HARPER'S  HALF-HOUR  SERIES. 

SSmo,    3?aper. 

1.  THE  TURKS  IN  EUROPE.    By  EDWAED  A.  FREE- 

MAN.    15  cents. 
2,3.  TALES  FROM  SHAKESPEARE.    By  CHARLES 

and  MARY  LAMB.  Comedies,  25  cts.  Tragedies,  25  cts. 

4.  THOMPSON  HALL.    By  ANTHONY  TROLLOPE.    Il 
lustrated.    20  cents. 

5.  WHEN  THE  SHIP  COMES  HOME.    By  WALTER 
BESANT  and  JAMES  RICE.     25  cents. 

6.  THE    LIFE,  TIMES,   AND    CHARACTER    OF 
OLIVER  CROMWELL.      By  the  Right  Hon.  E.  H. 
KNATCUUULL-HUGESSEN,  M.P.    20  cents. 

7-14.  EPOCHS  OF  ENGLISH  HISTORY,  a  Series  of 
books  narrating  the  History  of  England  at  Successive 
Epochs.  Edited  by  the  Rev.  M.  CREIGIITON,  M.A., 
late  Fellow  and  Tutor  of  Merton  College,  Oxford  : 

7.  EARLY  ENGLAND,  up  to  the  Norman  Con 
quest.     By  FREDERICK  YORK -POWELL.    With 
Four  Maps.    25  cents. 

8.  ENGLAND  A  CONTINENTAL  POWER,  from 
the  Conquest  to  Magna  Charta,  1066-1216.    By 
LOUISE  CREIGHTON.    With  a  Map.    25  cents. 

9.  RISE  OF  THE  PEOPLE,  and  Growth  of  Par 
liament,  from  the  Great  Charter  to  the  Accession 
of  Henry  VII.,  1215-1485.     By  JAMES  ROWLEY, 
M.A.    With  Four  Maps.    25  cents. 

10.  THE  TUDORS  AND  THE  REFORMATION. 
1485-1603.   By  M.  CREIGIITON,  M.A.  With  Three 
Maps.    25  cents. 

11.  THE    STRUGGLE    AGAINST    ABSOLUTE 
MONARCHY.    1603-1688.    By  BERTHA  MERITON 
CORDERY.    With  Two  Maps.    25  cents. 

12.  THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  THE  CONSTITU 
TION,  from  1689  to  1784.    By  JAMES  ROWLEY, 
M.A.    With  Four  Maps.    25  cents. 

13.  ENGLAND  DURING  THE  AMERICAN  AND 
EUROPEAN  WARS,  from  1765  to  1820.     By 
O.  W.  TANCOOK,  M.A.    With  Five  Maps.    25  cts. 


Harper's  Half-Hour  Series. 


EPOCHS  OF  ENGLISH  HISTORY—  Continued. 

14.  MODERN  ENGLAND,  from  1S20  to  1875.    By 
OSCAR  BROWNING,  M.A.    (In  Preparation.) 

15.  UNIVERSITY  LIFE  IN  ANCIENT  ATHENS. 
By  W.  W.  CAPES.    25  cents. 

16.  A  PRIMER  OF  GREEK  LITERATURE.      By 
EUGENE  LAWRENCE.    25  cents. 

IT.  A  PRIMER  OF  LATIN  LITERATURE.    By  EU 
GENE  LAWRENCE.    25  cents. 

18.  DIEUDONNE"E.    By  GEEALIHNE  BUTT.    20  cents. 

19.  THE  TIME  OF  ROSES.  ByGERALDiNsBuTT.  20c. 

20.  THE  JILT.  By  CHARLES  REAPE.  Illustrated.  SOcts. 

21.  THE  MILL  OF  ST.  HERBOT.    By  KATHARINE 
S.  MACQUOID.    20  cents. 

22.  THE  HOUSE  ON  THE  BEACH.      By  GEORGE 
MEREDITH.    20  cents. 

23.  KATE  CRONIN'S   DOWRY.     By  Mrs.  CASIIEL 
HOEY.    15  cents. 

24.  PETER  THE  GREAT.    By  Joim  LOTIIROP  MOT 
LEY.    25  cents. 

25.  PERCY  AND  THE  PROPHET.    By  WILKIE  COL 
LINS.    20  cents. 

26.  COOKING  RECEIPTS  from  Harper's  Bazar.    25c. 

27.  VIRGINIA.    A  Roman  Sketch.    25  cents. 

28.  THE  JEWS  AND  THEIR  PERSECUTORS.    By 
EUGENE  LAWRENCE.    20  cents. 

29.  THE  SAD  FORTUNES  OF  THE  REV.  AMOS 
BARTON.    By  GEOKGE  ELIOT.    20  cents. 

30.  MR.  GILFIL'S  LOVE  STORY.  By  GEORGE  ELIOT. 
20  cents. 

31.  JANET'S  REPENTANCE.  By  GEORGE  EMOT.  20c. 
82.  THE  ABC  OF  FINANCE.    By  SIMON  NEWOOMIJ. 

25  cents. 

33.  A  PRIMER   OF   MEDIAEVAL   LITERATURE. 
By  EUGENE  LAWRENCE.    25  cents. 


Harper's  Half-Hour  Series. 


34.  WARREN  HASTINGS.    By  Lord  MACAULAY.    25 
cents. 

35.  THE  LIFE  AND  WRITINGS  OF  ADDISON.  By 
Lord  MAOAULAY.    25  cents. 

36.  LORD  CLIVE.    By  Lord  MAOAULAY.    25  cents. 
ST.  FREDERIC   THE  GREAT.      By  Lord  MAOAU 
LAY.    25  cents. 

CS.  THE  EARL  OF  CHATHAM.     By  Lord  MAOAU 
LAY.    25  cents. 

39.  WILLIAM  PITT.    By  Lord  MAOAULAY.    25  cents. 

40.  SAMUEL  JOHNSON,  LL.D.    By  Lord  MACAULAY. 
25  cents. 

41.  JOHN    HAMPDEN.— LORD    BURLEIGH.      By 
Lord  MAOAULAY.    25  cents. 

42.  SIR  WILLIAM  TEMPLE.    By  Lord  MAOAULAY. 
25  cents. 

43.  MACHIAVELLL- HORACE    WALPOLE.      By 
Lord  MAOAULAY.    25  cents. 

44.  JOHN  MILTON.— LORD  BYRON.    By  Lord  MA 
OAULAY.    25  cents. 

45.  MY  LADY'S  MONEY.    Related  by  WILKIE  COL 
LINS.    25  cents. 

46.  POOR  ZEPH  !    By  F.  W.  ROBINSON.    20  cents. 
4T.  SHEPHERDS  ALL  AND  MAIDENS  FAIR.    By 

WALTER  BESANT  and  JAMES  RICE.    25  cents. 

48.  BACK  TO   BACK.     A   Story  of  To-Day.     By 
EDWARD  EVERETT  HALE.     25  cents. 

49.  THE    SPANISH    ARMADA  FOR   THE    INVA 
SION  OF  ENGLAND.    1587-1588.    By  ALFRED  H. 
GUERNSEY.    20  cents. 

50.  DA  CAPO.     By  ANNE  ISABELLA  THACKERAY.    20 
cents. 

51.  THE  BRIDE  OF  LANDECK.   By  G.  P.  R.  JAMES. 
20  cents. 

52.  BROTHER  JACOB.— THE  LIFTED  VEIL.    By 
GKOUGB  ELIOT.    20  cents. 


Harper's  Half-Hour  Series. 


53.  A  SHADOW  ON  THE  THRESHOLD.    By  MAISY 
CECIL  HAY.    20  cents. 

54.  DAVID'S  LITTLE  LAD.    By  L.  T.  MEADK.    25 
cents. 

55.  COUNT  MOLTKE'S  LETTERS  FROM  RUSSIA. 
Translated  by  GKAOE  BIGELOW.    25  cents. 

56.  CONSTANTINOPLE.   By  JAMES  BRYOE.   15  cents. 
5T.  ENGLISH     LITERATURE :    ROMANCE     PE 
RIOD.    By  EUGENE  LAWRENCE.    25  cents. 

58.  ENGLISH    LITERATURE  :    CLASSICAL    PE 
RIOD.    By  EUGENE  LAWRENCE.    (In  Preparation.) 

59.  ENGLISH  LITERATURE :  MODERN  PERIOD. 
By  EUGENE  LA\VRENCE.    (In  Preparation.) 

CO.  THE  TENDER  RECOLLECTIONS  OP  IRENE 

MACGILLICUDDY.    15  cents. 
Cl.  GEORGIE'S  WOOER.    By  Mrs.  LEITU-ADASIS.    20 

cents. 
C2.  SEVEN  YEARS  AND  MAIR.    By  ANNA  T.  SAD- 

LIER.    20  cents. 

63.  A  SUSSEX  IDYL.     By  CLEMENTINA  BLACK.    25 
cents. 

64.  GOLDSMITH.  — BUNYAN.— MADAME    D'AR- 
BLAY.    By  LORD  MACAULAY.    25  cents. 

65.  THE  YOUTH'S  HEALTH-BOOK.    25  cents. 


Published  by  HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  New  York. 

y  of  the  foregoing  voh.  sent  by  mail,  postage  prepaid,  to  any  part 
of  the  United  States,  on  receipt  of  the  price. 


A  YEAR 


OP 


AMERICAN  TRAVEL 


BY 

JESSIE  BEOTON  FREMONT 

i  \ 


NEW  YORK 

HARPER   &   BROTHERS,   PUBLISHERS 
FRANKLIN    SQUARE 

1878 


F&3 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1878,  by 

HARPER  &  BROTHERS, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 


11  Je  divague  fort,  mais  j'y  retouriie." 

— MONTAIGNE. 

THERE  are  some  years  of  our  lives  that 
compare  with  the  others  as  our  October 
days  do  with  those  of  the  rest  of  the  year. 
They  follow  the  fitful,  doubting  spring  and 
the  heat  of  summer,  and  beyond  them  lie 
the  short  cold  days  of  winter;  but  they 
themselves  are  perfect  rest,  and  their  still, 
gentle  influence  is  made  perfect  by  the  mer 
ciful  veil  of  mist  that  shuts  out  past  and 
future,  and  leaves  only  the  serene  present. 

In  such  an  October-time  we  had  made  our 
charming  visit  to  Denmark — itself  a  little 
mist-enveloped  bit  of  fairy-land  to  us ;  for 
there  WTC  had  walked  upon  the  very  ram 
part  where  the  buried  majesty  of  Denmark 


8  A  YEAR,   OP  AMERICAN   TRAVEL. 

ha^ ;  walked' ,Woi;e;iii  :By  so  much  were 
we  closer  to  Shakes'psare' s  Hamlet — not  the 
,.  of  .tha  foot-lights,  but  Hamlet  the 
' d.' we;h^d  He^  *h?  low  lapping 
(if 'the  wave's  on  the  3ahds  o'f  Elsinore,  and 
thought 

"  of  them  that  sleep, 
Full  many  a  fathom  deep, 
By  thy  wild  and  stormy  steep, 
Elsiuore." 

And,  in  short,  we  had  been  where  centuries 
of  tradition  and  fancy  and  fact  had  blended 
into  an  atmosphere  that  shut  out  ordinary 
ideas,  and  left  us  in  that  charmed  and 
dream-like  state  of  mind  which  I  am  afraid 
can  only  belong  with  an  old  country  where 
everything  "stays  put,"  where  the  word 
"fixed"  has  its  corresponding  meaning  in 
facts. 

One  of  our  little  party,  perhaps  because 
of  always  living  in  such  an  atmosphere,  ar 
gued  against  "  the  good "  of  this,  but  she 
had  never  known  the  ordeal  of  being  up 
rooted  and  transplanted.  My  wider  expe 
rience  had  taught  me  "the  large  grief  that 
these  infold."  I  knew  the  good  and  the  ne- 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

cessity  of  progress  in  a  nation,  but  I  knew 
also  what  it  cost  the  individual  to  make  part 
of  this  progress.  This  question  of  haute  po- 
litique — whether  the  nation  should  be  for 
the  good  of  the  individual,  or  the  individual 
for  the  good  of  the  nation — was  one  that 
often  came  up  for  discussion  at  the  "family 
hearth."  We  christened  our  compartment 
of  the  railway  carriage  by  this  name,  for  the 
hours  we  were  seated  there  gave  us  the 
best  opportunity  for  talking  over  what  we 
saw  and  the  many  ideas  suggested. 

Just  out  of  Hamburg  our  train  halted  at 
a  station  where  an  emigrant  train  was  ready 
to  go  off  to  connect  with  the  steamer  for 
America.  The  people  were  all  gathered 
at  the  village  station.  The  afternoon  sun 
came  bright  on  their  uncovered  heads  as 
they  knelt  in  a  parting  prayer ;  their  pastor, 
standing  with  uplifted  hands,  in  the  dress 
we  know  from  the  pictures  of  Luther,  was 
giving  them  his  farewell  blessing.  Back  of 
him  was  a  young  woman  of  better  dress  and 
appearance  than  the  more  simple  class  in 
front,  and  by  her  a  fine-looking  white-haired 
old  man.  As  the  prayer  ended,  she  fell  across 


10         A  YEAR   OP   AMERICAN   TRAVEL. 

his  breast ;  it  was  the  helplessness  of  ex 
hausted,  unavailing  grief;  and  hold  her 
and  grieve  over  her  as  he  might,  yet  the 
father  had  to  give  her  up,  for  the  parting 
hour  had  come. 

We  saw  this  picture  as  we  moved  slowly 
past.  It  was  the  constantly  recurring  do 
mestic  tragedy  of  emigration.  I  could  have 
called  out  to  her  to  stay ;  for  in  that  instant 
I  saw  back  into  the  time  when  I  had  learned 
to  know  how  painful  is  the  process  of  found 
ing  a  new  country.  What  loneliness,  what 
privations,  what  trials  of  every  kind,  went 
to  the  first  steps  of  even  that  rich  and  lovely 
country  of  California — an  experience  which 
made  one  sure  that  what  cost  so  much  to 
build  must  not  be  broken  up ;  an  experi 
ence,  too,  which  was  in  such  strange  con 
trast  to  all  that  belonged  before  and  since 
in  my  life  that  it  stands  apart,  and  never 
loses  its  own  outlines  and  color. 

The  many  memories  this  gave  rise  to  un 
folded  themselves  in  long  talks  constantly 
renewed,  until  they  crystallized  into  what 
we  named  the  year  of  American  travel: 


A  YEAR   OF   AMERICAN  TRAVEL.          11 

something  necessarily  personal  and  nar 
rowed  to  personal  experience,  but  inter 
woven  with  a  period  of  governing  impor 
tance  to  our  country. 

When  it  was  first  planned  that  I  should 
go  to  California,  in  the  spring  of  1848,  the 
gold  discoveries  had  not  been  made.  In  Au 
gust  of  that  year  was  the  first  finding,  and 
with  the  uncertain,  slow  communications 
then  had  with  that  coast,  it  was  nearly  win 
ter  before  the  news  reached  us  in  Washing 
ton.  It  seems  odd  to  recall  now  the  little 
vial  of  gold-dust  so  carefully  brought  as 
voucher  for  the  startling  story.  A  long  sail 
down  the  coast  to  Mazatlan,  then  the  cross 
ing  through  Mexico,  then  another  sailing 
vessel  to  New  Orleans,  made  the  chance 
mail-route :  only  a  strong  party  could  risk 
itself  overland,  and  few  ventured  into  the 
winter. 

For  reasons  which  belonged  with  the  mil 
itary  history  of  California,  our  whole  plan 
of  life  was  changed,  and  I,  too,  decided  to  go 
to  the  newly  acquired  Territory  and  live  on 
some  lands  we  had  there.  It  would  be  too 
long  here  to  go  into  these  reasons,  but  those 


12    A  YEAK  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

who  may  share  my  wish  always  to  know 
"  why,"  and  get  completed  ideas,  I  would 
refer  to  my  father's  Thirty  Years'  View*  the 
second  volume,  and  the  chapters  that  treat 
of  the  acquisition  of  California.  Judge 
Black  said  to  me  lately  that  my  father's 
work  "  had  the  privilege  of  standing  uncon- 
tradicted."  He  was  exact  in  facts,  and  had 
the  habit  of  a  good  lawyer  "  to  secure  evi 
dence  when  it  presented  itself;"  and  in  that 
way  from  the  best  official  and  personal 
sources,  he  gives  the  exact  record  of  that 
period.  Since  then  there  have  been  such 
great  events  that  even  important  matters 
of  that  time  have  been  overlaid  and  ob 
scured,  except  to  those  who  lived  through 
them.  And  lately  two  works  have  been 
published  by  writers  of  distinction  which 
show  this,  as  they  have  just  reversed  some 
of  the  most  prominent  facts  relating  to  the 
early  history  of  California.! 

Nothing  could  have  been  more  complete 
than  the  arrangements  which  were  to  make 

*  Senator  Benton. 

t  Colonel  Higginson's  Child's  History  of  America, 
General  Sherman's  Memoirs. 


A  YEAH  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    13 

this  journey  delightful  as  well  as  comfort 
able.  By  waiting  until  March  my  father 
would  be  free  to  go  with  me  after  the  ses 
sion  of  Congress  was  ended.  He  looked  for 
ward  with  eagerness  to  this  journey  over 
the  track  of  the  early  Spanish  conquests. 
His  large  knowledge  of  Spanish  history 
upon  our  continent,  aided  by  his  knowledge 
of  the  Spanish  language,  gave  this  part  of 
the  voyage  a  peculiar  interest  to  him. 

My  father's  French  and  Spanish  clients 
from  the  later  acquired  Territories  of  Louisi 
ana  and  Florida  became  his  friends  also.  He 
not  only  comprehended,  but  strongly  felt 
for,  their  bewilderment  at  finding  them 
selves  under  new  and  strange  laws.  He 
knew  that  this  condition  must  obtain  in 
California  also.  He  wished  to  know  per 
sonally  the  newly  acquired  country,  its 
people,  and  its  needs.  Should  it  remain  a 
Territory,  he,  as  Senator  from  Missouri,  had 
the  neighbor's  right  to  look  out  for  its  in 
terests  ;  and  from  many  causes,  personal,  po 
litical,  and  geographical,  this  friendly  rep 
resentation  would  have  been  for  him,  as  a 
queen  of  Spain  said  of  something  akin  to 


14    A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

this,  mi  privilegio,  prerogatives,  y  derecho — 
my  privilege,  my  prerogative,  and  my  right. 

But  not  even  my  father  foresaw  how 
much  they  would  need  this,  nor  the  shame 
ful  injustice  of  our  government  in  disre 
garding  its  treaty  stipulations,  and  despoil 
ing  them. 

General  Herran,  then  minister  from  New 
Granada,  gave  us  letters  to  his  friends  in 
Panama,  although  it  was  not  probable  that 
we  should  be  long  enough  there  to  use 
them.  Mr.  William  Aspinwall,  who  was 
much  in  Washington  on  business  connected 
with  his  new  enterprises  of  mail  steamers  to 
the  Pacific  and  the  projected  Panama  Rail 
road,  was  a  great  favorite  with  my  father, 
who  gave  him  a  standing  invitation  to  dine 
with  us  whenever  he  could,  and  talk  over 
at  that  leisure  time  the  large  interests 
opened  by  these  new  channels  for  Oriental 
commerce. 

Coming  to  us  in  this  familiar  way,  Mr. 
Aspinwall  entered  into  the  family  anxieties 
regarding  my  journey  with  all  the  sympa 
thies  of  his  kind  nature.  His  experience 
taught  him  how  to  render  these  sympathies 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    15 

efficient,  and  he  made  the  most  thorough 
arrangements  for  my  comfort  and  security. 
In  short,  everything  that  foresight  and 
friendship  could  do  was  planned :  how 
events  disposed  of  our  well-laid  plans  was 
another  thing. 

I  have  been  reading  lately  a  reprint  of 
the  letters  of  the  Hon.  Miss  Eden,  who  was 
with  her  brother,  Lord  Auckland,  when  he 
was  Governor-General  of  India.  She  says 
that  although  only  family  letters,  they  will 
have  more  interest  on  that  account,  as  giv 
ing  the  details  of  their  two  years'  journey 
of  inspection,  and  the  contrast  of  that  past 
time — when  to  seven  persons  belonged  a  ret 
inue  of  twelve  thousand  people,  with  ele 
phants,  camels,  and  horses  to  match — with 
the  present  condition  of  India,  where  now 
railroads  have  reduced  the  Governor-Gener 
al  to  a  first-class  passenger  with  a  travel 
ling-bag. 

In  the  same  way  I  look  back  to  my  prep 
arations  for  that  voyage  into  the  unknown 
— all  the  planning  and  reading  and  grief 
and  fears — in  contrast  with  the  seven  days' 
pleasure  trip  of  to-day.  Mr.  Aspinwall,  who 


16    A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

had  so  large  a  part  in  making  things  smooth 
for  me  on  that  first  journey,  was  near  me  at 
a  morning  wedding  when,  quite  simply,  and 
in  the  same  tone  with  which  he  had  been 
speaking  of  the  bride  and  the  flowers,  he 
said,  "Have  you  any  messages  for  San  Fran 
cisco  ?  We  leave  for  there  to-night  to  be 
gone  six  weeks."  Only  twenty  years  had 
brought  about  this  wonderful  change. 

It  is  easy  to  resume  situations  into  a  par 
agraph  when  they  are  ended;  to  live  through 
them  day  by  day  and  hour  by  hour  is  an 
other  thing. 

I  look  up  at  the  little  water-color  which 
is  my  resume  of  that  time  of  severance  from 
all  I  held  indispensable  to  happiness — it 
was  made  for  me  on  the  spot,  and  gives  my 
tent  under  the  tall  cotton-woods,  already 
browned  and  growing  bare  with  the  com 
ing  winter  winds. 

Mr.  Fremont  was  to  make  a  winter  cross 
ing  of  the  mountains,  and  I  went  with  him 
in  October  to  his  starting-point,  the  Dela 
ware  Indian  reservation  on  the  frontier  of 
Missouri,  to  return  when  he  left,  and  remain 


A  YEAR  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    17 

at  home  in  Washington  until  rny  time  came 
to  start  in  March. 

Of  everything  in  the  Centennial  Exhi 
bition,  I  think  nothing  interested  me  so 
much  as  the  display  made  by  Kansas.  It 
seemed  so  few  years  since  I  had  been  there, 
when  only  a  small  settlement  marked  the 
steamboat  landing  where  now  Kansas  City 
stands.  Looking  at  its  silk  manufactures, 
its  produce  of  not  only  essentials,  but  luxu 
ries,  it  was  hard  to  realize  the  untracked 
prairie  of  my  time,  with  only  Indians  and 
wolves  for  figures. 

I  had  been  there  before  to  meet  Mr..  Fre 
mont  on  his  return  from  different  journeys; 
this  time  it  was  to  stay  with  him  until  the 
last  preparations  were  completed. 

The  party  was  gone.  Major  Cummings 
was  to  take  me  the  next  day  to  connect 
writh  the  river  steamer  at  Westport  Land 
ing  (now  Kansas  City).  He  had  been  an 
noyed  by  a  wolf,  which  carried  off  his  sheep 
to  her  cubs,  and  had  just  succeeded  in 
following  up  her  trail  and  destroying  her 
young  ones ;  and  as  the  place  was  not  far, 
the  good  major  took  me  over  for  a  "  pleas- 


18    A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

ant  change  of  ideas."  I  was  sorry  for  the 
wolf,  "  still  for  all  sins  of  hers,"  with  the 
mother  nature,  coming  back  to  her  ruined 
place  and  her  dead  cubs. 

We  came  back  by  way  of  the  deserted 
camp,  which  did  not  lessen  my  sympathy 
for  the  wolf;  the  ashes  of  the  morning's 
fire  were  still  warm.  Altogether  nothing 
alleviated  the  lonely  impression  of  the  even 
ing,  which  closed  in  on  the  old  gentleman 
moaning  with  a  toothache,  while  the  creak 
of  his  wife's  rocking  -  chair  was  the  only 
other  break  to  the  silence. 

I  was  glad  to  go  off  to  sleep.  While  one 
is  young,  that  comes  with  surprising  read 
iness.  The  house  was  a  succession  of  log- 
cabins,  set,  some  gable  end  on,  some  facing 
front,  making  a  series  of  rooms  alternating 
with  open  places,  having  only  the  connect 
ing  roof.  These  frontier  houses  grow  as 
the  family  requirements  increase  ;  the  tim 
ber  and  the  strong  willing  hands  are  there, 
and  the  getting  a  new  house  costs  no  heart 
burnings  or  cares.  This  establishment  of 
Major  Cummings's,  who  had  been  for  thirty 
years  superintendent  of  Indians  there,  was 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    19 

of  many  years'  growth,  and  my  room  was 
the  extreme  end  of  the  last  added  wing. 
A  stone  chimney  built  up  on  the  outside 
gave  an  ample  fire-place,  where  the  great 
fire  of  logs  made  a  cheerful  home  light  in 
the  great  clean  room. 

My  good  "  Aunt  Kitty"  was  in  my  room, 
and  we  were  both  fast  asleep,  when  I  was 
awaked  by  a  sound  full  of  pain  and  grief, 
and  wild  rage  too — a  sound  familiar  enough 
to  frontier  people,  but  new  to  me.  It  was 
the  she-wolf  hunting  her  cubs ;  there  fol 
lowed  with  it,  as  a  chorus,  the  cry  of  the 
pack  of  hound  puppies — they  were  young, 
and  frightened.  As  for  me,  with  nerves  al 
ready  overstrained,  a  regular  panic  carne  on. 
I  knew  hunters  built  fires  to  scare  off  wild 
things ;  but  after  Kitty  had  made  a  great 
blaze,  a  new  fear  came.  The  windows  were 
near  the  ground,  and  without  shutters  or 
curtains.  What  if  the  blaze  only  served  to 
guide  the  wolf !  More  than  once  I  had  seen 
dogs  go  through  a  pane  of  window-glass  as 
safely  as  circus-riders  through  their  paper 
hoops  ;  so  shawls  were  quickly  hair-pinned 
over  the -windows,  and  by  that  time  men's 


20    A  YEAR  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

voices  and  the  angry  sounds  from  older  dogs 
gave  a  sense  of  being  protected,  and  sleep 
came  again,  to  be  broken  again  by  a  big 
dark  object,  rough-coated,  and  close  to  me. 
It  was  a  speaking  wolf  too,  but  not  exactly 
like  Red  Riding  -  hood's,  although  it  was 
hungry.  Camp  had  only  been  moved  about 
ten  miles,  and  a  fast  ride  through  and  back 
before  sunrise  would  give  us  another  hour 
together,  "  and  would  Kitty  make  tea  ?" 
And  so,  with  our  early  tea  for  the  stirrup- 
cup,  "he  gave  his  bridle-rein  a  shake,"  and 
we  went  our  ways,  one  into  the  midwinter 
snows  of  untracked  mountains,  the  other  to 
the  long  sea -voyage  through  the  tropics, 
and  into  equally  strange  foreign  places. 

The  question  of  a  servant  to  go  with  me 
to  California  was  a  serious  one.  The  elder 
women  could  not  leave  their  families,  and 
after  much  thinking,  a  younger  one  was  set 
apart,  and  each  of  us  was  considered  a 
victim  selected  for  a  sacrifice.  Although  I 
was  born  and  brought  up  among  slaves,  the 
servants  in  my  home  were  all  freed  people, 
their  children  had  grown  up  with  us,  and 


A  YEAR  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    21 

there  was  great  attachment  between  us. 
One  of  these  whom  I  particularly  liked  was 
decided  upon  and  agreed  to  go  and  remain 
with  me. 

Not  only  had  none  of  us  ever  been  to  sea, 
but  we  knew  but  very  few  people  who  had 
made  a  real  sea-voyage.  This  to  California 
was  to  be  very  much  like  the  old  journeys 
to  India,  and  a  friend  who  had  been  with 
her  husband  in  China  was  called  in  for  con 
sultation,  while  an  old-fashioned  book,  The 
Lady  of  the  Manor,  really  gave  us  some  most 
useful  details.  Only  we  followed  our  mod 
els  too  literally,  and  made  absurdly  large 
preparations. 

I  must  remind  that  this  was  before  sew 
ing-machines,  that  we  were  in  Washington, 
and  that  it  was  quite  before  the  day  of 
ready-made  outfits  in  our  country,  so  that 
we  busied  ourselves  with  preparations  for 
the  heat  of  the  tropics,  with  refreshing  my 
Spanish,  and  I,  for  my  part,  chiefly  in  rec 
onciling  myself  to  the  fact  that  in  a  few 
months  I  should  be  cut  loose  from  every 
thing  that  had  made  my  previous  life. 

March  came,  and  the  start  had  to  be 


22    A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

made.  My  father  came  with  me  to  New 
York,  although  by  this  time  the  original 
plan  had  lost  its  best  point  to  me,  for  he 
found  himself  unable  to  go  from  home. 

A  brother-in-law  (Governor  Jacobs,  of 
Kentucky),  who  had  been  ordered  a  sea- 
voyage  for  his  health,  and  was  going  to 
Rio  Janeiro  and  back,  changed  his  plan, 
and  started  with  me  for  California  instead. 
At  the  Astor  House,  where  we  were  staying, 
we  found  a  large  party  of  favorite  relations, 
my  cousin  General  William  Preston  and  his 
family,  assembled  to  welcome  back  from  Eu 
rope  a  member  who  had  been  away  for  years. 
I  was  much  in  the  position  of  a  nun  carried 
into  the  world  for  the  last  time  before  taking 
the  veil.  All  the  arguments,  all  the  reasons, 
all  the  fors  and  againsts,  had  to  be  gone  over 
with  this  set  of  friends;  all  the  griefs  open 
ed  up  again,  and  the  starting  made  harder 
than  ever.  While  we  were  talking,  Mr. 
Stetson  came  in  and  spoke  to  my  father, 
who  went  out  with  him,  soon  returning  to 
call  me  out  also,  and  explain  a  new  break 
in  our  plans.  It  seemed  niy  maid,  "young 
Harriot"  (to  distinguish  her  from  the  elder 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    23 

Harriot,  who  was  our  dear  old  nurse),  was, 
at  the  last,  riot  to  be  permitted  to  go  with 
me  by  her  New  York  friends ;  and  as  one 
of  them  was  the  man  she  was  to  marry,  he 
spoke  with  authority.  All  this  had  been 
considered  and  arranged;  but  at  the  last 
he  withdrew  his  consent. 

She  stood  true  to  me ;  she  knew  that 
never  in  my  life  had  I  had  a  strange  ser 
vant  about  me,  that  I  was  already  as  much 
grieved  as  I  could  endure,  and  she  would 
not  add  to  it  by  leaving  me  without  her 
care,  and  as  much  of  home  as  she  could 
represent  to  me. 

Finding  that  no  argument  prevailed  on 
her  to  stay,  he  hit  upon  an  idea  which  was 
successful.  He  went  off  and  raised  the 
whole  force  of  people  who  were  allied  for 
rescuing  colored  people  being  carried  off  to 
the  South  against  their  will,  and  they  pour 
ed  into  the  Astor  House,  filling  the  lower 
halls,  and  raising  such  a  commotion  that 
Mr.  Stetson  came  for  us  to  see  what  could 
be  done.  The  cry  of  "  carrying  off  a  free 
colored  girl  against  her  will "  had  the  same 
effect  in  those  days  as  an  alarm  of  fire. 


24    A  YEAR  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

Looked  at  by  all  of  our  lives,  it  seems  in 
credible  that  a  colored  mob  should  have 
assembled  against  my  father  and  myself  on 
such  a  hue  and  cry,  but  they  would  not  be 
reasoned  with.  It  was  true  that  we  were 
Southerners,  it  was  true  that  Harriot  was  a 
free  colored  girl,  although  it  was  not  true 
that  she  was  being  carried  off  against  her 
will.  The  trouble  was  that  she  had  no  will; 
she  had  only  affections,  and  these  pulled 
her  in  contrary  directions.  When  she  ap 
pealed  in  tears  to  us  to  decide  what  she 
should  do,  we  told  her  to  stay.  So  I  was  not 
only  to  be  without  my  father's  care,  but  I 
had  lost  my  last  fragment  of  home.  Mr. 
Stetson  and  my  father  tried  at  once  to  find 
some  one  going  out  on  the  same  steamer  who 
would  be  glad  to  have  the  place  ;  and  this 
was  done :  "  a  reliable  middle  -  aged  New 
England  woman,  far  more  useful  than  Har 
riot,  who  could  only  sew  and  dress  hair." 

I  barely  looked  at  her,  and  saw  she  was 
a  hard,  unpleasing  person  to  my  mind  ;  but 
the  steamer  sailed  next  day,  and  there  was 
no  time  for  any  choice.  She  was  only  an 
item  in  the  many  griefs  that  seemed  to  ac- 


A  YEAH   OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.         25 

cumulate  on  me  at  this  time.  My  father's 
going  with  me  would  have  made  it  a  de 
lightful  voyage  for  both  of  us ;  without 
him,  it  was,  in  all  its  dreary  blankness,  my 
first  separation  from  home.  I  had  never 
lived  out  of  my  father's  house,  nor  in  any 
way  assumed  a  separate  life  from  the  other 
children  of  the  family — Mr.  Fremont's  long 
journeys  had  taken  him  from  home  more 
than  five  years  out  of  the  eight  since  we 
were  married ;  I  had  never  been  obliged 
to  think  for  or  take  care  of  myself,  and 
now  I  was  to  be  launched  literally  on  an 
unknown  sea,  travel  towards  an  unknown 
country,  everything  absolutely  new  and 
strange  about  me,  and  undefined  for  the 
future,  and  without  even  a  servant  that 
knew  me. 

The  first  night  out,  when  the  numbness 
of  grief  was  over,  I  put  my  little  girl  to  bed  ; 
for  she  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
new  woman,  and  I  myself  pretended  to  be 
asleep  in  order  not  to  have  to  speak  to  her. 
Later  on  in  the  night  this  woman  came  into 
my  cabin  and  looked  at  me,  to  make  sure 
that  I  was  really  sleeping.  Being  satisfied 


26    A  TEAK  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

that  such  was  the  case,  she  opened  my  trunk, 
and  commenced  a  leisurely  examination  of 
its  contents,  laying  aside  in  a  small  heap 
such  articles  as  she  preferred  ;  at  the  same 
time  she  lifted  off  her  dark  wig,  and  gave 
her  head  a  little  shake,  and  stood  there,  not 
the  dark-haired,  middle-aged  woman  who 
was  to  be  so  much  better  for  me  than  my 
Harriot,  but  a  light-haired  woman  under 
thirty,  with  an  expression  of  hardness  that 
puzzled  me  then,  and  frightened  me  too,  so 
that  I  kept  as  much  asleep  as  possible,  and 
let  her  help  herself  to  all  she  wanted  from 
the  trunk.  When  she  left  the  room,  with 
an  armful  of  undergear,  I  jumped  up  and 
bolted  the  door  after  her,  and  remained 
blockaded  until  morning,  answering  none 
of  her  knocks  or  calls. 

When  I  recognized  the  clear  voice  of  the 
stewardess  in  the  morning,  I  let  her  in.  She 
was  that  good  Mrs.  Young,  with  the  gray 
hair  and  fine  teeth,  that  we  all  knew  so  well 
when  she  was  with  Captain  Lines  on  the 
Humboldt  and  Arago.  Then  I  was  safe,  for 
Mrs.  Young  brought  the  captain,  and  the 
woman  was  put  into  a  separate  cabin  un- 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    27 

der  guard  for  the  journey.  In  brief,  this 
person  should  never  have  been  allowed  to 
go  with  me.  She  was  a  protegee  of  an  au 
thoress  who  believed  in  certain  moral  re 
forms,  and  who  thought  that  by  giving  her 
a  start  in  a  new  country  she  would  carry 
out  her  promises  of  good  conduct.  This 
lady,  well  known  in  New  York,  had  given 
her  such  credentials  that  Mr.  Stetson  chose 
her  from  other  applicants  on  those  recom 
mendations. 

My  brother-in-law  was  thoroughly  sea 
sick,  and  I  was  naturally  supposed  to  be 
so,  because  I  kept  my  room  and  had  no 
appetite. 

But  the  stewardess  saw  it  wTas  not  so,  and 
made  me  go  into  the  air.  We  were  through 
with  the  rough  weather  off  Hatteras,  and 
were  in  the  Gulf  Stream.  I  had  never  seen 
the  sea,  and  in  some  odd  way  no  one  had 
ever  told  me  of  the  wonderful  new  life  it 
could  bring.  It  stays  with  me  in  all  its 
freshness,  that  first  recognition  of  the  ocean 
which  came  to  me  when  I  went  on  deck ; 
that  grand  solitude,  that  wide  look  from 
horizon  to  horizon,  the  sense  of  space,  of 


28    A  YEAK  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

freshness,  the  delightful  power  and  majesty 
of  the  sea — all  canie  to  me  as  necessities ; 
I  loved  it  at  the  first  look,  and  I  am  never 
fully  alive  without  it;  sometimes  I  cannot 
get  to  it  when  I  need  it,  but  when  I  can,  I 
go  there,  and  am  soothed  and  calmed  and 
comforted  if  I  am  in  trouble ;  if  I  am  hap 
py,  it  is  only  there  that  I  feel  completed  by 
the  exultant,  abounding  vitality  and  keen 
happiness  which  it  alone  brings  to  me. 

The  ship  was  crowded,  but  I  was  too  worn 
down  and  silenced  to  care  to  know  stran 
gers.  The  captain,  Captain  Schenck,  who 
was  a  naval  officer,  was  in  every  way  kind, 
and  very  wisely  so  in  securing  me  entire 
quiet  while  on  deck,  so  that  the  "  healing 
of  the  sea  "  soon  began  to  revive  my  health, 
and  the  silent  teaching  of  sky  and  sea  lifted 
me  from  morbid  dwelling  on  what  was  now 
ended. 

The  young  think  each  thing  final — they 
cannot  well  see  that 

"I  shall  outlast  this  stroke,  I  know, 
For  man  is  conquered  by  the  mighty  hours,"1 

must  be  true  for  them  too.    Perhaps  the 


A  YEAH  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    29 

sharpest  lesson  of  life  is  that  we  outlast  so 
much — even  ourselves — so  that  one,  look 
ing  back,  might  say,  "  when  I  died  the  first 
time—" 

But  the  sea  asserts  its  mighty  power  also, 
and  no  one  ends  an  ocean  voyage  in  the  same 
state  of  mind  with  which  he  began  it. 

In  this  gentle  state  of  mental  convales 
cence  I  remember  how  persistently  my  mind 
pictured  scenes  of  my  childhood  and  early 
girlhood.  Especially  the  many  charming 
things  belonging  with  our  constantly  recur 
ring  long  journeys  to  and  from  our  homes. 
For  we  had  three  homes  :  the  winter  home 
in  Washington,  which  was  "  ours ;"  that  in 
St.  Louis,  which  was  "  our  father's  home ;" 
and  that  of  our  grandfather  in  Virginia, 
which  was  rny  mother's  dearly  loved  home, 
and  my  birth-place  as  well  as  hers.  This 
was  near  the  beautiful  mountain  town  of 
Lexington,  best  known  of  late  from  both 
General  Lee's  and  "Stonewall"  Jackson's 
connection  with  its  great  colleges.  These 
were  widely  apart,  and  before  the  day  of 
railways,  made  travel  serious;  taking  so 
much  time  that  it  divided  our  lives  into 


30    A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

distinct  parts,  but  broke  up  nothing  of 
family  life,  and  did  not  interrupt,  although 
it  altered,  the  form  of  our  studies.  A  cer 
tain  little  English  valise  held  the  maps  and 
books,  and  our  school-room  was  improvised 
anywhere — on  the  "  guard  "  of  a  river  steam 
boat  or  in  its  cabin,  or  resting  under  trees. 
It  trained  us  to  holding  on  to  our  thoughts 
through  interruptions ;  it  trained  us  to  much 
for  which  I  can  never  be  grateful  enough, 
for  then  my  father  himself  was  our  teacher 
— to  his  real  pleasure,  and  our  endless  re 
grets  when  we  had  to  drop  back  to  regular 
teachers,  who  could  not  enrich  and  illumi 
nate  every  topic  as  he  did.  He  suited  the 
books  to  his  own  tastes  ;  and  though  much 
was  above  our  comprehension,  yet  we  grew 
into  them.  Especially  we  never  got  away 
from  Plutarch  and  the  Iliad.  The  gods  and 
goddesses  descended  on  us  everywhere. 

The  little  invalid  of  our  family  was  not 
let  to  brave  the  harsh  prairie  winds  of  early 
spring  in  St.  Louis,  so  we  took  New  Orleans 
first  on  the  alternate  years  when  we  went  to 
the  West.  It  was  thousands  of  miles  out  of 
our  way,  but  water  transportation  made  it 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    31 

no  trouble,  while  the  eight  days  on  the  Mis 
sissippi  was  as  welcome  a  rest  for  my  parents 
as  we  now  find  our  Atlantic  crossing.  Ours 
was  a  constant  changing  from  an  English- 
Protestant  into  a  French-Catholic  atmos 
phere,  to  find  them  blended  in  Washington 
through  widely  various  representations,  and 
by  the  diplomatic  corps,  which  was  a  more 
permanent  body  than  now,  when  steam  and 
telegraphing  have  nearly  abolished  diplo 
macy. 

It  had  been  but  few  years  since  the  Louisi 
ana  Territory  had  been  ceded  to  us,  greatly 
to  the  indignation  and  regret  of  most  of  its 
settlers.  It  was  an  article  of  faith  with 
these  to  alter  nothing  in  their  habits,  not 
even  to  learn  the  language  of  the  country 
of  which  they  had  become  unwilling  citi 
zens  :  Je  suis  fran$ais,  et  je  parle  ma  langue, 
was  a  common  expression  among  them. 
Among  these  wre  came  into  an  atmosphere 
thoroughly  foreign — dress,  cookery,  all  do 
mestic  usages  and  ideas,  as  well  as  their 
language  and  religion.  St.  Louis  being  a 
so  much  smaller  place,  the  American  ele 
ment  told  there  more  quickly,  especially  as 


32    A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

it  was  also  the  frontier  garrison  and  the 
head  of  the  fur  business.  From  the  broad 
gallery  of  my  father's  house  in  St.  Louis 
there  was  always  to  be  seen  in  rny  earlier 
day  a  kaleidoscopic  variety  of  figures  ;  the 
lower  classes  of  the  French  still  wore  their 
peasant  dress,  and  its  bright  and  varied 
colors  and  the  white  caps  belong  as  much 
to  the  remembrance  of  that  time  in  St.  Louis 
as  they  do  to  iny  earlier  visits  in  France ; 
now  it  is  hard  to  find  a  peasant  costume 
even  in  their  own  countries  on  travelled 
routes;  the  sewing-machine  has  abolished 
picturesqueness  in  dress.  When  I  was  first 
in  France,  even  in  Paris  the  streets  were 
animated  by  the  pretty  white  caps  and  gray 
gowns  of  the  working-women  ;  now  a  pall 
of  black  alpaca  has  hidden  all  this,  though 
the  greatest  desecration  I  have  seen  is  a 
Tyrolese  mountaineer  in  a  ready-made  bus 
iness  suit. 

There  were  also  long  files  of  Indians  step 
ping  silently  by,  the  squaws  and  babies 
bringing  up  the  rear — real  Indians  in  real 
Indian  dress,  or  real  Indian  want  of  dress  ; 
any  number  of  Catholic  clergy  in  the  cler- 


A  TEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    33 

ical  robe ;  hunters  and  trappers  in  fringed 
deer-skins  ;  army  officers  in  worn  uniforms 
going  by  on  horseback. 

Our  house  in  Washington  was  a  head 
quarters  for  the  varied  interests  from  all 
these  places,  while  about  my  mother  there 
collected  and  shaped  itself  a  circle  which 
formed  for  many  years  really  a  salon,  to  be 
broken  up  only  by  her  loss  of  health. 

This  life  rubbed  out  many  little  preju 
dices,  and  fitted  us  better  than  any  reading 
could  have  done  to  comprehend  the  neces 
sary  differences  and  equal  merits  of  differ 
ing  peoples,  and  that  although  different, 
each  could  be  right.  The  manner  in  which 
my  father  taught  us  also  led  us  up  to  the 
same  ideas. 

The  French  language  was  a  necessity,  and 
that  we  acquired  without  any  trouble,  be 
cause  we  had  a  nurse  who  began  us  with  it 
as  soon  as  we  could  speak ;  whatever  gov 
erness  or  teacher  we  had,  my  father  always 
was  our  real  teacher,  my  mother  reserving 
one  day  and  one  line  of  instruction,  which, 
like  the  red  strand  in  English  navy  cables, 
marked  us  for  her  own. 
3 


34    A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

While  in  "Washington  we  had  our  routine 
of  studies  and  town  life,  in  New  Orleans 
my  elder  sister  and  myself  rose  to  the  pro 
portion  of  members  of  society,  for  my  fa 
ther's  clients,  when  on  their  visits  to  Wash 
ington,  were  pleased  to  have  us  for  their  lit 
tle  interpreters,  and  when  we  would  be  in 
New  Orleans  they  would  insist  on  treating 
us  as  grown  people,  inviting  us  formally  to 
dinners,  where  we  would  be  taken  in  formal 
ly  by  grown  gentlemen,  and  sit  through  the 
whole  entertainment.  There  was  great  in 
herited  wealth  among  these  planters  ;  they 
were  generally  educated  in  Paris ;  and  with 
the  combined  resources  of  climate,  taste,  and 
wealth,  their  mode  of  living  was  beautiful  as 
well  as  luxurious. 

One  detail  I  have  never  met  since  in  any 
country,  that  of  having  the  dinner  and  the 
dessert  in  different  dining-rooms.  With  us 
this  classic  custom  has  faded  into  the  after- 
dinner  coffee  of  the  drawing-room,  but  it 
was  completely  carried  out  in  these  great 
houses. 

One  occasion  I  remember  especially. 
While  the  earlier  part  of  the  dinner  was 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    35 

in  a  spacious  and  splendid  room,  and  served 
with  plate  enough  to  satisfy  even  English 
ideas,  the  next  room  was  more  charming, 
for  its  furniture,  as  well  as  that  of  the  table, 
was  suited  to  the  grace  and  fragrance  and 
lightness  of  the  dessert.  The  crystal  ser 
vice  and  the  wax-lights  in  their  glass  shades 
were  reflected  in  great  mirrors  on  three  sides 
of  the  room,  while  the  fourth  was  open  to  a 
court  of  grass  and  flowers,  where  the  moon 
shone  on  the  sparkling  spray  of  a  large  foun 
tain.  The  punkah-wallahs,  as  they  would  be 
called  in  India,  had  great  fans  of  peacock 
feathers.  I  do  not  wonder  it  fitted  into 
the  Arabian  Nights'  entertainments  in  my 
mind. 

In  St.  Louis,  where  our  house  stood  among 
its  great  trees,  in  a  square  of  its  own,  we 
had,  to  a  large  degree,  a  pleasant  out-door 
life :  our  lessons  always  were  given  on  the 
broad  gallery  running  around  the  house, 
and  in  every  way  we  had  a  great  deal  of 
open-air  life  ;  but  our  true  delight  in  out- 
of-doors  was  only  to  be  had  at  my  grand 
father's  place  in  Virginia.  When  going 
there  from  Washington  we  used  no  public 


86    A  YEAH  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

conveyances  beyond  Fredericksburg ;  there 
the  carriage  and  saddle-horses  met  us,  my 
mother  as  well  as  my  father  often  making 
the  journey  back  on  horseback,  while  the 
carriage  was  there  for  us  children,  and  for 
her  to  return  to  when  tired — a  London-built 
travelling  coach  which  gave  all  the  rest  one 
looked  for — large,  high  swung,  and  with  so 
many  springs  that  the  jolting  from  the  ex 
ecrable  roads  was  lessened.  Its  pale  yellow 
body  and  scarlet  morocco  lining  made  us 
children  christen  it  "Cinderella's  pumpkin ;" 
maybe,  too,  an  underlying  consciousness  of 
unlimited  indulgence  associated  with  those 
who  sent  it. 

There  was  always  a  sense  of  freedom  and 
expansion  of  mind  connected  with  the  ar 
rival  at  my  grandfather's.  His  was  one  of 
the  crown  grants  of  the  colonial  time,  and 
had  been  given,  for  military  service,  to  his 
father,  an  English  officer,  who  was  killed  in 
the  early  Indian  wars,  but  not  before  he 
had  planted  his  old-country  ideas  upon  his 
home.  The  oaks  here  were  especially  beau 
tiful  ;  they  had  been  preserved,  and  made  a 
noble  park.  Leading  straight  through  this 


A  YEAR  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    37 

park  to  the  large  hospitable-looking  house 
was  a  planted  double  avenue  of  cherry-trees, 
which  had  been  arched  on  the  inner  boughs 
and  trimmed  up  straight  on  the  outer  side ; 
these  had  grown  to  the  height  and  thickness 
of  forest  trees  by  my  time,  and  made  a  love 
ly  vista,  whether  they  were  in  blossom  or 
red  with  fruit,  or  their  naked  boughs  glit 
tering  with  ice.  On  the  lawn  about  the 
house  some  remarkable  oaks  had  been  kept, 
and  some  sycamores  of  really  giant  propor 
tions.  There  were  beautiful  old-fashioned 
gardens  to  the  south,  and  masked  by  the  tall 
hedge  of  holly  and  privet  were  the  cabins 
of  the  house  servants.  These  were  comfort 
able,  clean  cottages,  but  forbidden  ground 
to  the  children  of  "  the  Big  House  "  unless 
they  were  with  some  of  the  family. 

The  land  patent  gave  the  ownership  of 
all  the  lands  in  sight  from  a  certain  point 
in  the  valley,  and  we  knew,  as  we  crossed 
the  last  hill  before  entering  this  valley,  that 
we  were  monarchs  of  all  we  surveyed,  in 
cluding  the  grandparents. 

On  this  travel  we  rarely  stopped  at  a  pub 
lic  place ;  it  was  held  as  an  unkindness  to 


38    A  YEAH  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

pass  a  relative's  home,  so  our  journey  was 
a  progress  along  a  cordon  of  great  estates 
of  this  kind,  where  everything  had  so  long 
been  going  along  in  an  established  way 
that  it  was  small  wonder  they  believed  in 
predestination  and  fore-ordination. 

Everywhere  among  them  was  inherited 
property — their  houses,  their  servants,  the 
cattle  and  sheep  on  a  hundred  hills,  were 
theirs  by  descent.  Nothing  varied  much — 
things  were  all  in  the  deep  lull  of  secured 
prosperity. 

The  life  on  these  estates  will  not  be  lived 
over.  With  the  introduction  of  railways, 
the  war,  and  the  termination  of  slavery,  this 
phase  of  living  has  completely  passed  away ; 
it  lies  back  in  my  memory  like  a  sunny, 
peaceful  landscape,  and  I  am  as  thankful 
for  having  been  born  in  that  atmosphere 
of  repose  as  De  Quincey  says  he  was  for 
having  been  born  in  the  country  in  Eng 
land.  It  was  to  us  what  Hawthorne  and  so 
many  others  have  found  England,  "  the  old 
home,"  with  soothing  influences  that  go  al 
ways  with  its  memory. 

When  we  would  return  to  this  place  of 


A  YEAH  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    39 

my  grandfather's,  each  resumed  the  delights 
belonging  to  it. 

The  grown  people  would  go  to  the  White 
Sulphur  Springs,  then  the  Saratoga  for  the 
North  as  well  as  the  South.  I  always  had 
the  pleasure  of  being  left  with  my  grand 
mother,  and  went  with  her  on  that  daily 
round  of  inspection  which  made  one  of  the 
necessary  duties  of  a  Southern  lady.  This 
included  not  only  the  immediate  household, 
but  the  cabins  of  the  house  servants,  the 
gardens — to  see,  in  short,  that  all  had  been 
faithfully  attended  to ;  and  then  into  the 
spinning  and  sewing  rooms,  and  always  into 
the  large  room  used  as  a  day  nursery  and 
hospital  for  the  infants  of  women  who  were 
employed  about  their  different  work.  I  can 
hardly  get  to  the  end  of  all  the  duties  that 
filled  up  the  busy  mornings.  I  know  that 
the  garden  and  the  nursery  are  the  points 
that  remained  most  in  my  memory  as  the 
place  where  my  grandmother  gave  the  most 
time;  the  dairy  was  all  right  under  the 
care  of  its  presiding  head,  "  Aunt  Chloe," 
who  was  the  wife  of  "  Uncle  Jack,"  shoe 
maker  to  the  plantation,  and  Methodist 


40    A  YEAH  OF  AMEKICAN  TRAVEL. 

preacher  to  his  own  people.  It  was  not 
considered  respectful  in  us  children  to  ad 
dress  the  elder  slaves  by  their  name  mere 
ly ;  there  was  always  the  prefix  of  "aunt" 
or  "uncle ;"  to  the  head  nurse  always  "mam 
my."  Occasionally  there  were  inspections 
at  a  longer  distance  from  the  house — to  the 
weaving-rooms,  the  shoe-maker's,  etc.  Ev 
erything  that  was  worn  was  grown  and 
made  on  the  place,  except  the  finer  wool 
lens  and  linens  for  family  use  which  came 
from  Richmond. 

The  various  stages  of  woollen  fabrics, 
from  the  sheep  on  the  hill-sides,  and  the 
dyes  taken  from  the  sumac  bushes  and 
the  green  bark  of  walnuts,  all  the  details 
of  buzzing  wheels,  and  carding  wool,  and 
winding  hanks,  were  part  of  the  object- 
teaching  of  my  childhood. 

The  interval  between  the  close  of  the  long 
session  and  the  winter  was  too  short  for 
the  long,  tedious  journey  to  St.  Louis  and 
back.  We  only  made  that  on  alternate  years 
after  the  short  session,  when  high  waters 
gave  us  large  steamboats  and  comfortable 
transportation  for  our  little  crowd.  What 


A  YEAH  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    41 

we  do  now  in  two  days  required  then  sev 
eral  weeks. 

Mv  father  knew  no  plan  of  life  that  sepa 
rated  him  from  his  family;  so  we  led  this 
charming  nomadic  existence,  with  its  fixed 
points  in  such  contrast  to  the  trouble  of 
travel  and  distance  between  them.  Wash 
ington  was  in  one  way  wTork,  and  St.  Louis 
and  New  Orleans  had  their  sides  of  political 
work  and  his  duties  as  a  lawyer.  But  it 
was  all  holiday  here,  and  my  father  enjoyed 
it  thoroughly.  Especially  he  liked  the  au 
tumn  shooting.  The  birds  were  most  plenti 
ful  in  certain  large  wheat-fields,  which,  in 
their  warm  tints  of  stubble,  undulated  over 
the  south  face  of  the  hills,  the  trees  of  the 
"little  orchard"  and  the  park  making  a 
good  screen  to  the  north. 

Here  and  there  through  the  fields  were 
good  apple-trees ;  under  one  of  these  we 
would  rest,  and  eat  our  luncheon  of  a  bis 
cuit  and  some  fruit  taken  from  the  tree 
above  us ;  and  then  my  father  would  take 
a  book  from  his  pocket,  usually  a  classic  in 
a  French  translation,  from  which  he  would 
read  aloud  for  me  to  translate. 


42    A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

There  were  plenty  of  ideas,  even  words, 
that  I  did  not  understand ;  if  it  had  been  a 
description  of  the  steam-engine,  I  should 
have  gone  through  it  with  equal  good-will 
and  docility ;  but  much  of  it  remained  in 
my  memory,  and  I  grew  into  it.  Hard 
words  and  hard  ideas  tired  my  mind  as  the 
long  tramps  and  ploughed  fields  tired  my 
young  feet,  but  with  time  I  grew  used  to 
both,  and  the  benefit  of  both  remained  with 
me :  these  long  sunny  mornings  in  the  open 
air  were  the  most  delightful  phase  in  which 
my  lessons  came.  In  winter  I  had  my  cor 
ner  at  the  library  table.  No  matter  how 
good  our  teachers  were,  my  father  had  us 
always  prepare  our  lessons  with  him. 

About  a  year  after  I  was  married,  my  fa 
ther  sent  for  me  one  morning,  and  pointing 
to  my  old  place  at  the  end  of  the  library  ta 
ble,  said,  "  I  want  you  to  resume  your  place 
there ;  you  are  too  young  to  fritter  away 
your  life  without  some  useful  pursuit."  So 
back  I  went  to  my  mornings  of  work  and 
readings  and  translations,  which  brought 
with  them  the  scraps  of  talk  and  connect 
ed  interest  on  all  subjects  which  can  only 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    43 

exist  where  lives  are  passed  together  in  that 
pleasant  intimacy. 

As  I  have  said,  the  long  expeditions  which 
Mr.  Fremont  made  took  him  from  home  five 
years  of  the  first  eight  after  we  were  mar 
ried,  and  I  remained  in  many  respects  in  my 
old  place  as  one  of  the  children  of  the  fam 
ily.  My  mother's  long  illness  deprived  my 
father  of  her  companionship  to  a  great  ex 
tent,  and  made  him  turn  to  me  still  more. 
How  great  a  loss  this  was  to  him  and  to  us 
can  only  be  known  to  those  who  knew  her ; 
but  I  do  not  speak  of  that  life,  for  it  is  not, 
like  mine,  in  a  manner  public  property.  For 
myself,  so  much  good-will  and  warm  feel 
ing  have  been  given  me  during  the  public 
portions  of  my  life  that  it  does  not  seem 
more  intrusive  to  talk  of  myself  to  my  un 
known  friends  than  to  those  I  know  per 
sonally. 

As  my  mind  turns  back  to  that  time,  so 
much  crowds  upon  it  that  I  can  neither  tell 
it  in  its  fulness,  nor  can  I  bring  myself  to 
leave  it  a  mere  skeleton.  I  think  there 
could  hardly  have  been  a  happier  life  than 
mine  as  a  child,  and  in  all  my  youth ;  it 


44    A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

would  be  a  full  volume,  to  be  bound  in  white 
and  gold,  and  red-lettered  throughout,  and 
full  of  lovely  pictures,  and  everywhere  and 
in  all  of  them  my  father  the  prominent  fig 
ure.  He  made  me  a  companion  and  a  friend 
from  the  time  almost  that  I  could  begin  to 
understand.  We  were  a  succession  of  girls 
at  first,  with  the  boys  coining  last,  and  my 
father  gave  me  early  the  place  a  son  would 
have  had ;  and  my  perfect  health — without 
a  flaw  until  I  was  twenty-four — gave  me  not 
only  the  good  spirits  but  the  endurance  and 
application  that  pleased  him. 

When  we  reached  Chagres,  if  it  had  not 
been  for  pure  shame,  and  unwillingness  that 
my  father  should  think  badly  of  me,  I  would 
have  returned  to  New  York  on  the  steamer, 
as  the  captain  begged,  putting  before  me 
such  a  list  of  dangers  to  health,  and  dis 
comforts  and  risks  of  every  kind,  as  to  kill 
my  courage.  One  often  gets  credit  for  what 
he  does  not  really  deserve,  and  it  would 
hardly  do  to  tell  the  whole  truth  about 
everything ;  but  I  have  since  confessed  that 
when  I  first  saw  land  my  pleasure  in  the 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    45 

first  sight  of  palm-trees  and  the  tropical 
growth  was  lost  in  the  feeling  that  I  had 
to  make  another  separation  from  what  had 
grown  to  be  something  of  a  home.  Cap 
tain  Schenck  had  made  everything  as  pleas 
ant  as  possible  for  me.  My  large  double 
cabin,  which  at  first  seemed  like  a  closet, 
had  grown  home-like.  Never  having  been 
on  a  ship  before,  I  had  only  a  house  to 
compare  it  with,  and  felt  choked  on  first 
going  into  it ;  but  I  have  learned  since  to 
know  that  a  double  cabin,  with  a  large 
square  port,  is  a  luxury. 

The  little  tender  on  which  the  passengers 
and  mails  were  landed  was  as  small  as  a 
craft  could  well  be  to  hold  an  engine,  and 
was  intended  to  go  as  high  as  possible  up 
the  Chagres  River.  It  seemed  like  stepping 
down  upon  a  toy.  But  even  this  had  to  be 
exchanged,  after  the  first  eight  miles,  for 
dug-out  canoes,  the  shallows  and  obstruc 
tions  of  every  kind  making  it  impossible 
to  use  the  little  steamboat. 

Here 'Mr.  Aspinwall's  care  secured  for  me 
what  was,  by  the  contrast  to  what  the  oth 
er  travellers  ha'd  to  endure,  luxury.  While 


46    A  YEAR  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

they  had  to  take  the  dug-out  canoes,  with 
their  crews  of  naked,  screaming,  barbarous 
negroes  and  Indians,  I  was  put  in  the  "  com 
pany's  "  whale-boat,  with  a  responsible  crew 
in  the  "  company's  "  service ;  this  was  a  dif 
ference  which  I  learned  to  appreciate  more 
thoroughly  on  hearing  afterwards  of  the 
murder  of  passengers  by  their  crews.  With 
all  our  advantages,  we  only  made  a  few  miles 
each  day,  taking  three  to  reach  Gorgona, 
where  we  were  to  exchange  our  boats  for 
mules,  on  which  we  crossed  the  mountains. 
This  travel  is  so  changed  by  the  railroad 
that  it  may  be  interesting  to  know  just  how 
we  made  the  crossing  in  1849.  The  other 
passengers  took  their  chances  of  sleeping 
on  the  ground  or  in  the  huts  of  the  Indians, 
and  in  that  way  contracted  fevers  from  the 
night  air,  the  tropical  mists,  and  all  causes 
of  ill-health  that  were  so  well  known,  while 
I  was  protected  from  all  this  through  Mr. 
Aspinwall's  care.  He  had  sent  with  me 
one  of  his  trusted  employes,  a  captain  of  a 
vessel  in  the  mahogany  trade,  who  had  had 
his  wife  with  him  on  his  different  journeys 
on  that  coast,  and  knew  just  what  to  do  for 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    47 

the  health  and  safety  of  a  lady.  When 
Mr.  Aspinwall  told  him  that  he  was  to  see 
me  'across,  and  leave  me  in  safety  at  Pana 
ma,  his  wife  objected,  because,  she  said,  I 
would  be  a  Washington  fine  lady,  and  make 
objections  to  the  Indians  having  no  clothes 
on,  and  make  him  a  great  deal  of  trouble 
altogether,  and  he  had  better  ask  Mr.  As 
pinwall  to  have  some  one  else  do  this ;  but 
after  Mr.  Aspinwall  introduced  him  to  me 
at  his  house,  the  captain,  as  he  told  me 
afterwards,  told  his  wife  he  would  take 
care  of  me ;  "  that  I  was  not  a  fine  lady  at 
all ;  that  I  was  a  poor  thin  pale  woman, 
and  not  a  bit  of  a  fine  lady ;  that  he  would 
see  me  through.  And  she  agreed  to  it." 

While  the  sun  was  still  bright  we  made 
our  landing.  One  needs  to  realize  it  in  the 
tropics  to  know  how  true  is  the  line, 

"  Dovm  dropped  the  sun,  up  rose  the  moon ;" 

and  with  the  dropping  of  the  sun,  rose  not 
only  the  moon,  but  the  discordant  noises  of 
night  in  the  tropical  forests  ;  a  hideous,  con 
fusing  rush  of  sound  without,  which  made 
more  comfortable  the  pleasant  interior  of 


48    A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

our  tent,  with  its  canvas  floor  and  walls, 
lit  up  by  the  great  fire  outside,  which  was 
our  protection  not  only  against  wild  ani 
mals,  but  the  deadly  dews,  which  were  so 
heavy  that  they  had  obliged  the  further 
protection  of  a  fly  tent.  Persons  sleeping 
on  shore  even  one  night  forfeited  their  life- 
insurance.  Within,  it  was  ready  for  us  with 
all  the  comforts  the  "  company  "  could  pro 
vide,  and  our  clean  linen  cots  were  very  wel 
come  after  the  fatigue  of  the  day,  with  all 
its  excitement  and  new  ideas.  Among  all 
the  passengers  there  was  but  one  other  lady. 
I  invited  her  to  go  with  me;  I  could  not 
leave  her  to  meet  all  the  exposures  and  risks, 
when  I  had  such  care  taken  of  me.  I  am 
sorry  to  say  that  I  was  also  obliged  to  have 
with  me  my  "  reliable  maid."  The  captain 
had  treated  her  "  man-of-war"  fashion,  and 
put  her  under  lock  and  key  wrhile  wre  were 
on  the  steamship,  and  intended  taking  her 
back  to  New  York ;  but  she  refused  to  go. 
She  claimed  not  only  her  rights  as  an  Amer 
ican  citizen  to  travel  where  she  pleased,  but 
to  say  what  she  pleased,  and  created  a  sort 
of  public  opinion  for  herself  among  the  steer- 


A  YEAH  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    49 

age  passengers,  who,  hearing  only  her  side 
of  the  story,  looked  upon  her  as  an  ill-used 
woman,  and  it  wras  thought  best  that  I 
should  at  least  take  her  as  far  as  Panama. 
She  too  had  the  benefit  of  all  this  friendly 
and  delicate  care. 

Each  camping-place  was  provided  for  in 
the  same  way,  always  one  or  two  of  the  army 
officers  connected  with  the  survey  that  was 
being  made  for  the  railroad  were  there  to  see 
that  everything  was  right,  and  to  have  the 
pleasure  of  home  talk  with  a  lady.  It  took 
a  long  time  to  make  these  thirty  miles  of 
river  travel,  for  we  were  only  poled  along 
against  the  stiff  current  of  this  mountain 
river.  Though  we  made  but  a  few  miles 
each  day,  they  were  full  of  novelty  and  in 
terest.  Sometimes  for  nearly  a  mile  we 
would  go  along  gently ;  the  men  could  use 
oars,  and  we  \vould  be  sometimes  out  in  the 
stream,  sometimes  close  to  the  bank  under 
the  overarching  branches  of  trees,  bent  into 
the  water,  and  so  matted  by  masses  of  flower 
ing  creepers  that  we  seemed  at  times  to  glide 
along  an  aisle  of  flowers  through  a  great  con 
servatory.  There  I  first  saw  the  white  and 
4 


50    A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

scarlet  varieties  of  the  passion-flower,  and 
many  flowers,  both  fragrant  and  brilliant, 
for  which  I  know  no  name.  Then  we  would 
have  to  put  out  into  the  stream  from  under 
this  shade,  and  the  sun  was  hot.  At  times 
we  would  have  to  get  out  while  the  men 
would  be  busy  with  their  long  knives  clear 
ing  a  little  pathway  for  us  through  the 
dense  growth,  where  some  point  put  out  in 
such  a  shallow  that  we  could  not  get  the 
boat  round  it.  We  hardly  felt  the  heat  more 
than  in  our  own  hot  weather;  but  the  effects 
of  the  sun  were  very  different  upon  white 
people.  The  Indians  and  Jamaica  negroes, 
of  whom  our  crew  was  composed,  tumbled 
from  the  boat  into  the  water,  giving  it  a 
shove,  and  leaping  back,  as  much  at  home 
in  the  water  as  porpoises.  We  were  near 
to  the  close  of  the  last  day's  journey,  with 
in  an  hour  of  Gorgona,  when  my  brother-in- 
law,  being  young  and  strong  and  a  Ken- 
tuckian,  in  his  impatience  at  the  delay  on 
one  of  those  sand  spits,  jumped  into  the 
water  and  dragged  the  boat,  in  spite  of  the 
men,  who  told  him  that  it  would  kill  him. 
We  did  get  off  sooner  than  usual  through 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    51 

his  help,  and  he  was  very  triumphant  about 
it,  when  suddenly  his  eyes  rolled  back  in 
his  head  and  he  fell  prostrate  from  sun 
stroke  just  as  we  reached  Gorgona;  and 
throughout  that  whole  night  the  physician 
with  the  engineering  corps  was  doubtful 
if  he  could  live. 

I  will  say  here  that  this  deprived  me  of 
his  care,  for  the  illness  that  followed  was 
such  that  he  was  taken  back  in  the  next 
steamer  to  the  United  States,  as  he  could 
not  recover  in  a  hot  climate.  His  illness 
kept  us  at  Gorgona  some  days,  the  officers 
of  the  engineering  corps  all  begging  me  to 
return  to  the  United  States,  telling  me  that 
I  had  no  idea  of  what  I  was  to  go  through. 
In  fact,  at  each  step  of  my  journey  I  was 
told,  like  the  young  man  in  "  Excelsior," 
that  the  thing  was  impossible ;  and  quite 
secretly  to  myself  I  said  so  too  when  I 
began  to  see  what  the  emigrants  suffered. 
There  were  hundreds  of  people  camped  out 
on  the  hill-slopes  at  Gorgona  in  apologies 
for  tents,  waiting  for  a  certainty  of  leaving 
Panama,  from  which  as  yet  there  was  no 
transportation.  There  were  many  women, 


52    A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

some  with  babies,  among  these  ;  they  were 
in  a  hot,  unhealthy  climate,  and  the  uncer 
tainty  of  everything  was  making  them  ill : 
loss  of  hope  brings  loss  of  strength :  they 
were  living  on  salt  provisions  brought  from 
home  with  them,  which  were  not  fit  for  such 
a  climate,  and  already  many  had  died. 

Some  pleasant  English  people,  returning 
from  South  America,  were,  like  myself,  guests 
at  the  headquarters  of  the  engineer  corps. 
The  alcalde  of  the  village  invited  us  all  to 
a  breakfast,  where  I  had  a  caution  given 
me  just  in  time  to  prevent  my  showing  my 
horror  at  the  chief  dish,  a  baked  monkey, 
which  looked  like  a  little  child  that  had 
been  burned  to  death.  The  iguana,  or 
large  lizard,  of  which  we  had  seen  so 
many  along  the  river,  was  also  a  chief  dish. 
This  is  held  to  be  very  delicate,  and  its 
eggs  are  esteemed  as  much  as  certain  eggs 
are  among  us.  The  alcalde's  house  was  a 
thatched  roof  on  poles,  with  wattled  sides, 
like  a  magnified  vegetable  crate.  Un 
bleached  sheeting  had  been  tacked  over 
this,  in  our  honor,  and  the  wall  further 
adorned  by  four  colored  lithographs.  There 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    53 

were  the  "  Three  Marys,"  and  although  mere 
daubs,  had  at  least  the  garments  and  attri 
butes  of  their  subjects.  The  fourth  was  a 
black  -  haired,  red -cheeked,  staring  young 
woman  in  a  flaming  red  dress  and  ermine 
tippet,  and  a  pink  rose  in  her  hand,  under 

al!'  MAKY, 

WIFE  OF  JAMES  K.  POLK, 
President  of  the  United  States. 

This,  he  evidently  thought,  was  the  Mary 
of  our  worship.  When  we  went  back,  Mrs. 

W said,  "  We  will  have  our  breakfast 

now,"  and  had  her  own  tea-pot  and  tea 
brought  out.  When  she  found  that  I  was 
too  young  a  traveller  to  know  the  necessi 
ty  of  carrying  these  with  me,  she  gave  me 
-hers,  with  a  warning,  which  I  have  heeded 
to  my  great  comfort,  never  to  separate  from 
my  own  tea  equipage  again. 

The  distance  from  Gorgona  to  Panama 
was  about  twenty-one  miles.  It  was  dis 
tance,  not  a  road ;  there  was  only  a  mule 
track — rather  a  trough  than  track  in  most 
places,  and  mule  staircases  with  occasional 
steps  of  at  least  four  feet,  and  only  wide 


54    A  YEAR  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

enough  for  a  single  animal — the  same  trail 
that  had  been  followed  since  the  early  day 
of  Spanish  conquest;  and  this  trail  followed 
the  face  of  the  country  as  it  presented  it 
self—straight  up  the  sides  of  the  steepest 
heights  to  the  summit,  then  straight  down 
them  again  to  the  base.  No  bridges  across 
the  rapid  streams.  These  had  to  be  forded 
by  the  mules,  or,  when  narrow,  the  mule 
would  gather  his  legs  under  him  and  leap 
it.  If  one  could  sit  him,  so  much  the  bet 
ter  ;  if  not,  one  fell  into  the  water ;  and  in 
this  way  many  emigrants  got  broken  bones, 
and  many  more  bruises  and  thorough  wet 
tings.  There  was  no  system  about  the 
baggage ;  people  generally  had  taken  the 
largest  trunk  they  could  find,  because  the 
journey  was  to  be  a  long  one;  there  was 
no  provision  for  taking  these  across  other 
than  by  hand ;  and  when  the  trunk  was 
absolutely  too  large,  mules  and  cows  were 
pressed  into  the  service.  My  invaluable 
Captain  Tucker  had  made  all  arrangements 
for  me,  and  I  knew  nothing  of  these  trou 
bles  on  my  own  behalf,  but  even  the  civil 
ized  "baggage-smashing"  of  our  railroads 


A  YEAH  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    55 

was  nothing  compared  to  the  damage  done 
in  that  Isthmus  transfer.  The  slender  In 
dians  bending  under  the  weight  of  a  trunk 
carried  between  them  on  poles,  and  the 
thin,  ill-fed  little  mules  which  almost  dis 
appeared  under  the  load  of  trunks,  valises, 
and  bags,  both  got  rid  of  their  load  when 
tired  of  it.  There  were  very  narrow  de 
files  worn  through  the  rock  where  we  could 
only  go  in  single  file,  and  even  the  men  sat 
sidewise,  because  there  was  not  room  to  sit 
as  usual.  At  one  of  these  we  came  upon  a 
cow  loaded  with  trunks  and  bags.  She 
was  measuring  her  wide  horns  against  the 
narrow  entrance  of  the  defile,  as  her  load 
prevented  her  twisting  through.  There  we 
had  to  wait  until  some  solution  of  the  dif 
ficulty  was  found,  which  she  reached  by 
rubbing  oif  all  her  load,  leaving  us  the 
debris  of  the  broken  trunks  and  smashed 
baggage  to  climb  over.  We  had  two  days 
of  this  before  reaching  Panama. 

A  fine  mule  is  really  a  delightful  animal 
to  ride,  especially  in  a  mountain  country ; 
but  these  very  small,  badly  fed,  ungroomed, 
wretched  little  creatures  that  we  had  were 


56    A  TEAK  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

full  of  viciousness,  and  they  resented  the 
unusual  work  required  of  them.  I  had 
been,  as  usual,  provided  with  the  best — a 
fine  mule  belonging  to  the  "  company  ;'* 
and  Captain  Tucker  was  exultant  that  I 
was  neither  ill  nor  tired,  nor  in  any  way 
broken  down  by  the  unusualness  of  the 
whole  thing,  and  repeated  his  constant  ex 
pression,  "I  told  my  wife  you  were  not  a 
bit  of  a  fine  lady."  He  judged,  as  we  all 
judge,  by  appearances.  As  there  were  no 
complaints  or  tears  or  visible  breakdown, 
he  gave  me  credit  for  high  courage,  while 
the  fact  was  that  the  whole  thing  was  so 
like  a  nightmare  that  one  took  it  as  a  bad 
dream  —  in  helpless  silence.  The  nights 
were  odious  with  their  dank  mists  and 
noises ;  but  there  was  compensation  in  the 
sunrise,  when  from  a  mountain  -  top  you 
looked  down  into  an  undulating  sea  of 
magnificent  unknown  blooms,  sending  up 
clouds  of  perfume  into  the  freshness  of  the 
morning;  and  thus  from  the  last  of  the 
peaks  we  saw,  as  Balboa  had  seen  before 
us,  the  Pacific  at  our  feet.  There  I  felt  in 
connection  with  home,  for  Balboa  and  Pi- 


A  TEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    57 

zarro  meant  also  Prescott's  history  of  the 
conquest,  and  family  readings  and  discus 
sions  in  a  time  that  seemed  so  far  back 
now, for  it  lay  before  the  date  which  should 
hereafter  mark  all  things — before  and  after 
leaving  home.  Panama,  too,  was  the  first 
walled  city  I  had  ever  seen ;  and  its  land 
gate  and  water  gate,  and  its  old  cathedral, 
with  the  roof  and  spire  inlaid  with  moth 
er-of-pearl,  all  made  me  feel  that  I  had 
come  to  a  foreign  country. 

My  stay  at  Panama  was  not  all  one-sided ; 
it  had  its  very  pleasant  aspects.  General 
Herran's  letters  made  his  family  accept  me 
as  one  of  themselves.  One  of  them,  an 
elderly  lady,  a  widow,  made  me  come  to 
her  house  and  remain  with  her  during  my 
whole  stay ;  there,  with  her  daughters  and 
her  nice  old  servants,!  had  none  of  the  for- 
lornness  which  belongs  to  being  in  a  hotel, 
*and  quickly  slipped  into  a  routine  very 
much  like  my  ordinary  life,  only  with  very 
different  scenery  and  actors.  I  learned  the 
reality  of  Spanish  hospitality,  and  that "  La 
casa  y  todo  que  tiene  es  a  su  disposicion  " 
is  not  merely  a  phrase. 


58    A  YEAB  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

Many  of  the  young  people  had  been  edu 
cated  in  London  and  Paris,  but  there  was 
no  want  of  topics  in  common,  and  of  inter 
est,  even  with  those  who  had  never  left 
their  country. 

I  had  plenty  of  books  with  me ;  there  were 
interminable  letters  to  be  written  home,  vis 
its  to  receive  and  visits  to  return ;  and  de 
lightful  walks  on  the  ramparts  in  the  cool  of 
the  day  just  before  sundown,  often  ending  in 
going  to  dine  or  have  an  evening  of  music 
with  the  ladies  of  native  or  foreign  consular 
families,  who  also  had  their  exercise  there. 

When  I  was  in  Paris  in  1852,  I  thought 
I  recognized  in  a  carriage  that  passed  me 
in  the  Bois  de  Boulogne  a  beautiful  face 
with  those' eyelids  the  Spanish  call  durmidi- 
dos,  a  peculiarity  I  had  first  seen  in  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  girls  in  the  Hurtado  family. 
The  Empress  had  those  eyelids,  and  as  she 
was  then  in  the  first  blaze  of  her  new  dis 
tinction,  Spanish  beauty  was  in  fashion. 
It  was  among  her  beauties  commented  on 
and  praised.  This  expression,  durmididos, 
or  sleepy  eyelids,  is  a  characterization  given 
to  the  long,  heavily  fringed,  slowly  moving 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.     59 

eyelid,  where  the  eye  is  more  open  at  the  in 
side  than  at  the  outer  corner,  and  where  the 
eyelid  descends  with  a  sweep,  giving  that 
look  that  we  see  in  a  child  when  it  is  strug 
gling  against  sleep. 

I  ventured  a  bow,  which  was  quickly  re 
turned,  and  we  drew  up  beside  each  other 
and  renewed  acquaintance.  I  was  so  pleased 
to  find  I  could  be  of  any  service  to  them  in 
Paris,  helping  to  decide  on  a  school  for  the 
young  girls,  and  in  every  way  I  could  think 
of  taking  from  them  in  turn  the  sense  of 
being  far  from  home. 

On  Sundays  we  had  the  service  of  our 
own  church.  Mr.  Aspinwall  had  looked  to 
the  starting  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in 
California,  and  sent  out  the  Kev.  Mr.  Minor 
to  plant  it.  It  was  liberal  and  kind  of  some 
Catholic  Panama  ladies  to  give  the  use  of 
their  large  rooms  for  a  Protestant  service. 
They  not  only  did  this,  but  every  Sunday 
we  found  the  room  arranged  with  as  many 
seats  as  it  could  contain  placed  in  aisles,  a 
temporary  altar  made  by  a  table  covered 
with  the  finest  linen  and  decorated  with 
flowers,  while  they  themselves,  although 


60    A  YEAR  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

they  could  not  join  our  service,  stayed  just 
without  the  door,  and  made  us  feel  welcome 
in  that  way.  Some  passengers  had  a  me- 
lodeon,  and  not  a  bad  improvised  choir 
chanted  the  responses.  It  was  a  sincerely 
religious  gathering,  and  I  recall  no  other 
service  like  it  for  simple,  genuine  impres- 
siveness. 

The  best  rooms  in  that  climate  are  al 
ways  on  the  upper  floor,  their  only  win 
dows  being  as  large  as  our  barn  doors, 
which,  in  this  room,  when  slid  aside,  gave 
us  a  broad  view  over  the  bay.  Mr.  Minor, 
in  his  orthodox  robes,  at  the  flower-deco 
rated  table,  the  melodeon  with  its  little 
choir  around  it  on  one  side,  the  space  at  the 
other  side  remaining  open  for  the  ladies  of 
the  house  who  were  in  the  doorway  of  an  ad 
joining  room,  where  they,  with  their  idea  of 
respect,  sat  in  full  evening  dress — satin  slip 
pers,  fan,  lace  mantillas,  and  flowers  in  the 
hair — everything  in  the  old  Spanish  style ; 
the  few  American  ladies  in  the  front  row  of 
chairs  in  their  morning  suits  and  bonnets, 
while  the  rest  of  the  room  was  crowded  with 
men  in  every  variety  of  dress  and  want  of 


A  YEAR,  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    61 

clress.  No  one  had  anticipated  such  deten 
tion,  and  the  small  outfit  intended  for  rapid 
travel  was  pretty  much  used  up,  while  at 
that  time  there  were  no  means  of  replacing 
it ;  red-flannel  shirts  and  corduroy  clothes 
seemed  to  be  the  only  thing  to  be  had  in 
Panama,  and  so  made  a  picturesque  though 
uncomfortable  wear  for  the  tropics. 

Some  observances  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
of  which  I  had  only  read,  I  saw  here.  The 
house  where  I  was  staying  was  on  the  great 
square  where  the  cathedral  and  custom 
house  and  other  large  buildings  are ;  my 
rooms  were  about  twenty  feet  above  the 
ground,  one  a  corner  room  ;  the  broad  cov 
ered  balcony  that  ran  around  both  sides 
gave  me  a  look  out  on  the  whole  active  life 
of  Panama.  Sometimes  it  was  a  church  pro 
cession  to  the  ramparts  to  bless  the  waters 
and  pray  for  a  favorable  season  ;  very  pict 
uresque  from  the  brilliant  awnings  carried 
over  the  heads  of  the  officiating  priests,  in 
their  splendid  lace  robes  over  the  red  un 
der-dress,  and  followed  by  a  long  array  of 
ladies  in  the  old  Spanish  costume — lace 
mantillas  on  the  head,  bright  silk  and  satin 


C2    A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

gowns,  and  satin  slippers,  all  carrying  flow 
ers  to  be  cast  in  the  water ;  they  in  turn 
followed  by  gentlemen  in  full  European 
evening  dress ;  and  then  a  long  crowd  of 
Indians  and  women,  looking  like  pictures 
because  of  their  very  odd  and  scanty  gar 
ments  ;  these  would  have  not  only  the  mu 
sic  of  the  church  service,  as  it  was  chanted 
by  the  priests  and  taken  up  by  the  people, 
but  at  the  end  of  the  procession  nearly  ev 
ery  man  had  a  rude  form  of  guitar  on  which 
he  played,  and  sang,  while  women  danced 
along  at  the  end  of  the  procession,  remind 
ing  one  of  Miriam's  dancing  in  the  early 
Jewish  ceremonials. 

On  Good-Friday  the  search  for  the  body 
of  the  Saviour  made  another  very  striking 
church  occasion ;  the  usual  persons  were  in 
the  formal  procession,  led  by  priests,  but 
they  were  in  funeral  vestments,  the  ladies 
all  in  the  deepest  mourning,  with  black 
veils  over  their  heads,  and  every  one  carry 
ing  a  lighted  candle.  ' 

Often  and  often  the  Kev.  Mr.  Minor,  our 
Episcopal  clergyman,  with  white  robes  and 
bared  head,  followed  a  solitary  rough  coffin, 


A  TEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    63 

attended  by  a  few  men  in  red-flannel  shirts, 
making  their  way  to  the  temporary  burial- 
place  just  beyond  the  land  gate,  where  the 
graves  were  growing  thick.  Just  by  was 
the  entrance  to  the  calaboose.  The  soldiers 
on  guard,  who  had  muskets,  and  hats  with 
feathers,  but  no  shoes,  whiled  away  their 
time  by  fighting  chickens.  I  became,  in 
spite  of  myself,  expert  in  judging  these; 
there  was  a  constant  bringing  in  and  com 
paring  ;  it  was  the  high  exchange  for  fight 
ing-cocks.  Those,  and  a  shrivelled  little 
man  who  carried  on  his  business  as  jeweller 
in  the  open  air,  just  as  in  the  Arabian  Nights, 
a  bench  and  stool  his  only  shop,  I  saw  all 
the  time.  My  Panama  Tiffany's  best  effort 
was  the  making  of  filigree  crosses  with  the 
imperfect  Panama  pearls  interwoven,  for 
which  I  became  one  of  his  customers. 

One  morning  I  heard  a  voice  of  lament 
ing,  a  voice  of  real  sorrow.  Looking  down, 
I  saw  walking  to  and  fro  in  the  shade  be 
neath  my  balcony,  a  young  Indian  man, 
carrying  a  child  of  about  three  years  old, 
both  of  them  with  the  least  possible  cloth 
ing  on — country  Indians,  evidently.  The 


64    A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

face  of  the  child  shocked  me,  and  I  called 
to  the  man  that  it  was  very  ill ;  to  bring  it 
in  and  let  us  do  something  for  it.  He  in 
terrupted  his  wailing  to  say,  "  No,  no  ;  ya 
se  murio'"  ("  It  is  dying  now  ").  He  had 
been  with  it  to  the  Cathedral  near  by. 
Candelaria,  one  of  the  servants  of  the  house, 
a  quick,  sympathetic  Spanish  Indian,  ran 
down  to  the  man  at  my  asking,  and  brought 
them  in  and  cared  for  them ;  but  the  child 
was  really  in  the  agonies  of  death,  and  only 
lived  a  little  while. 

The  next  morning  the  tinkle  of  the  little 
bell  announcing  that  the  Host  was  passing 
through  the  streets  drew  me  to  the  balco 
ny.  I  saw  for  the  first  time,  in  action,  the 
theory  that  the  death  of  an  infant  is  a  cause 
for  thankfulness.  People  often  say  this 
with  us ;  it  is  the  religious  belief  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  and  here,  where  the  peo 
ple  were  simple  and  acted  their  belief,  it 
was  being  carried  into  practice.  It  was  an 
Indian  funeral,  and  on  a  very  humble  scale. 
The  priest  led  the  way,  as  usual,  preceded 
by  the  Host,  chanting  a  service  for  the  dead, 
but  with  a  quick,  glad  intonation,  which 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    65 

was  taken  up  by  the  Indian  women  follow 
ing.  The  little  child,  robed  in  white,  with 
ruffles  and  lace  and  ribbons  and  wreaths  of 
flowers,  lay  on  an  open  bier  carried  by  men 
singing  loudly  and  cheerfully.  Next  the 
child  Avas  its  father,  now  dressed  out  in  a 
shirt  and  pantaloons,  with  a  haggard  face, 
and  wistful  eyes  fixed  upon  his  child,  but 
singing  also.  Behind  them  a  long  crowd 
of  women  in  their  holiday  dresses ;  violins 
and  guitars  -were  playing  cheerful,  quick 
music,  and  they  followed  them  dancing. 
But  for  the  dead  child  one  would  not  have 
known  that  it  was  not  a  marriage  proces 
sion.  When  we  realize  our  utter  helpless 
ness  to  shield  those  we  love  from  the 
chances  of  life,  cajrwe  say  that  these  peo 
ple  are  wrong  ? 

This  was  April  of  1849,  and  only  one 
steamship  had  preceded  ours.  Its  passen 
gers  had  been  taken  up  the  coast  to  San 
Francisco  on  the  California,  the  first  of  the 
line  sent  round  the  Horn ;  she  was  to  have 
returned  and  been  at  Panama  to  connect 
with  us.  A  second  steamship,  the  Panama, 


GO    A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

had  also  left  New  York  on  her  way  round, 
but  was  not  to  reach  Panama  until  a  month 
later.  It  could  only  be  conjectured  why 
the  California  did  not  return,  and  it  was 
supposed,  as  was  afterwards  proved,  that  all 
her  crew  had,  deserted  to  go  to  the  mines, 
and  no  men  could  be  induced  to  take  their 
places.  The  madness  of  the  gold  fever  was 
upon  everybody  up  there,  GO  we  were  de 
tained  in  Panama  seven  weeks  before  the 
relief  came.  Seven  weeks  of  tropical  cli 
mate  in  the  rainy  season  was  hard  upon 
those  who  had  even  the  best  accommoda 
tion,  but  simply  fatal  to  those  who  had  only 
tents  and  no  resources  against  the  climate. 
Another  monthly  steamer,  and  sailing  ves 
sels  from  all  our  ports,^rought  in  acces 
sions,  until  there  were*everal  thousand 
Americans  banked  up  in  Panama,  and  none 
of  them  prepared  for  this  detention.  The 
suffering  from  it  was  great,  and  one  of  the 
greatest  troubles  was  that,  though  the  mails 
continued  to  arrive,  which  Would  contain 
not  only  their  family  and  business  news  from 
home,  but  in  many  cases  money  remittances 
which  were  very  much  needed,  no  one  was 


A  YEAR  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    G7 

authorized  to  open  them,  as  they  were  made 
up  for  San  Francisco.  Our  consul,  who 
was,  of  course,  a  foreigner,. cared  more  for 
the  technical  offence  he  might  give  to  the 
government  than  for  the  actual  good  he 
might  do  to  the  Americans.  Our  people 
met  the  emergency  in  their  national  way : 
they  called  a  public  meeting,  where  it  was 
decided  that  a  committee  of  twelve  should 
be  chosen,  to  be  agreed  upon  by  all  pres 
ent;  that  these  twelve  persons  before  all 
should  open  the  mails.aud  distribute  them. 
This  committee  was  selected  from  among 
the  government  officials  there — the  Ameri 
can  commissioners  for  running  a  boundary 
line  between  Mexico  and  California,  the 
custom-house  officers,  officers  of  high  rank 
in  the  army,  and  persons  of  political  and 
personal  distinction  well  known  to  all  who 
were  there.  From  among  these  the  com 
mittee  of  twelve  was  made  up. 

The  newspapers  brought  over  by  the 
steamer  passengers  gave  me  my  first  infor 
mation  of  the  sufferings  of  Mr.  Fremont's 
overland  party,  and  with  these  were  rumors 
still  more  painful  than  the  reality.  I  knew 


68    A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

tli at  in  those  mail-bags  were  letters  from 
my  father  giving  me  the  truth,  and  bring 
ing  such  comfort  as  could  be  sent  through 
letters,  yet  for  want  of  them  I  was  left  to 
the  horrors  of  imagination.  This,  added  to 
the  effects  of  the  rainy  season,  began  to 
make  me  ill.  When  the  bags  were  opened, 
they  quickly  came  to  letters  with  my  fa 
ther's  well-known  frank  upon  them,  which 
were  as  quickly  brought  to  me,  and  passed 
up  to  the  balcony  on  the  end  of  a  split  sug 
ar-cane — the  sugar-cane  for  my  little  girl, 
the  letters  for  me.  Then  I  only  thought  of 
my  letters  ;  now  I  can  see  in  it  the  intelli 
gent  results  of  self-government,  making  our 
people  do  the  right  thing  under  unusual 
circumstances.  Hundreds  were  suffering 
for  want  of  proper  food  and  apcommoda- 
tions,  which  they  could  not  have  without 
money,  while  in  these  closed  bags  lay  the 
letters  containing  their  drafts,  which  could 
be  exchanged  by  the  company's  agents  or 
express  company ;  so  they  made  their  laws 
as  they  went. 

This  was  the  governing  letter  brought  me 
by  the  mails.    I  do  not  apologize  for  giv- 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    69 

ing  it  in  full,  for  it  is  a  necessary  "  supple 
ment  and  complement"  of  this  narrative  of 
personal  experience  of  the  impediments  to 
reaching  California  at  that  period  : 

LETTER  FROM   COLONEL  FREMONT  T9   HIS 
WIFE. 

"  TAGS,  NEW  MEXICO,  January  27, 1849. 

"  I  write  to  you  from  the  house  of  our  good  friend 
Carson.  This  morning  a  cup  of  chocolate  was  brought 
to  me  while  yet  in  bed.  To  an  overworn,  overworked, 
niuch-fatigned,  and  starving  traveller  these  little  luxu 
ries  of  the  world  offer  an  interest  which  in  your  com 
fortable  home  it  is  not  possible  for  you  to  conceive. 
While  in  the  eujoymeut  of  this  luxury,  then,  I  pleased 
myself  iu  imagining  howgratih'ed  you  would  be  in  pict 
uring  me  here  in  Kit's  care,  whom  you  will  fancy  con 
stantly  occupied  and  constantly  uneasy  in  endeavoring 
to  make  me  comfortable.  How  little  could  you  have 
dreamed  of  this  while  he  was  enjoying  the  pleasant 
hospitality  of  your  father's  house  !  The  furthest  thing 
then  from  your  mind  was  that  he  would  ever  repay  it 
to  me  here. 

"  But  I  have  now  the  unpleasant  task  of  telling  you 
how  I  came  here.  I  had  much  rather  write  you  some 
rambling  letters  in  unison  with  the  repose  in  which  I 
feel  inclined  to  indulge,  and  talk  to  you  about  the  fut 
ure,  with  which  I  am  already  busily  occupied ;  about 
my  arrangements  for  getting  speedily  down  into  the 
more  pleasant  climate  of  the  lower  Del  Norte  and  rap 
idly  through  into  California,  and  my  plans  when  I  get 
there.  I  have  an  almost  invincible  repugnance  to  go- 
jug  back  among  scenes  where  1  have  endured  much 


70    A  YEAH  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

suffering,  and  for  all  the  incidents  and  circumstances 
of  which  I  feel  a  strong  aversion.  But  as  clear  infor 
mation  is  absolutely  necessary  to  you,  and  to  your  fa 
ther  more  particularly  still,  I  will  give  you  the  story 
now  instead  of  waiting  to  tell  it  to  you  in  California. 
But  I  write  in  the  great  hope  that  you  will  not  receive 
this  letter.  When  it  reaches  Washington  you  may  be 
on  your  way  to  California. 

"  Former  letters  have  made  you  acquainted  with  our 
journey  so  far  as  Bent's  Fort,  and  from  report  you  will 
have  heard  the  circumstances  of  our  departure  from 
the  Upper  Pneblo  of  the  Arkansas.  We  left  that  place 
about  the  25th  of  November,  with  upwards  of  a  hun 
dred  good  mules,  and  one  hundred  and  thirty  bushels 
of  shelled  corn,  intended  to  support  our  animals  across 
the  snow  of  the  high  mountains,  and  down  to  the  low 
er  parts  of  the  Grand  River  tributaries,  where  usually 
the  snow  forms  no  obstacle  to  winter  travelling.  At 
the  Pneblo  I  had  engaged  as  a  guide  an  old  trapper 
well  known  as  'Bill  Williams,'  and  who  had  spent 
some  twenty-five  years  of  his  life  in  trapping  various 
parts  of  the  Eocky  Mountains.  The  error  of  our  jour 
ney  was  committed  in  engaging  this  man.  He  proved 
never  to  have  in  the  least  known,  or  entirely  to  have 
forgotten,  the  whole  region  of  country  through  which 
we  were  to  pass.  We  occupied  more  than  half  a 
month  in  making  the  journey  of  a  few  days,  blunder 
ing  a  tortuous  way  through  deep  snow,  which  already 
began  to  choke  up  the  passes,  for  which  we  were 
obliged  to  waste  time  in  searching.  About  the  llth 
of  December  we  found  ourselves  at  the  north  of  the 
Del  Norte  Canon,  where  that  river  issues  from  the  St. 
John's  Mountain,  one  of  the  highest,  most  rugged,  and 
impracticable  of  all  the  Rocky  Mountain  ranges,  inac 
cessible  to  trappers  and  hunters  even  in  the  summer- 


A   YEAR   OF   AMERICAN   TRAVEL.         71 

time.  Across  the  point  of  this  elevated  range  our 
guide  conducted  us,  and  having  still  great  confidence 
in  his  knowledge,  we  pressed  onward,  with  fatal  reso 
lution.  Even  along  the  river-bottoms  the  snow  was 
already  belly-deep  for  the  mules,  frequently  snowing 
in  the  valley  and  almost  constantly  in  the  mountains. 
The  cold  was  extraordinary ;  at  the  warmest  hours  of 
the  day  (between  one  and  two)  the  thermometer  (Fah 
renheit)  standing  in  the  shade  of  only  a  tree  trunk  at 
zero  ;  the  day  sunshiny,  with  a  moderate  breeze.  We 
pressed  up  towards  the  summit,  the  snaw  deepening, 
and  in  four  or  five  days  reached  the  naked  ridges  which 
lie  above  the  timbered  country,  and  which  form  the 
dividing  grounds  between  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic 
and  Pacih'c  oceans.  Along  these  naked  ridges  it  storms 
nearly  all  winter,  and  the  winds  sweep  across  them 
with  remorseless  fury.  On  our  first  attempt  to  cross 
we  encountered  a  poudrerie,  and  were  driven  back, 
having  some  ten  or  twelve  men  variously  frozen — face, 
hands,  or  feet.  The  guide  became  nigh  being  frozen 
to  death  here,  and  dead  mules  were  already  lying  about 
the  fires.  Meantime  it  snowed  steadily.  The  next 
day  we  made  mauls,  and,  beating  a  road  or  trench 
through  the  snow,  crossed  the  crest  in  defiance  of  the 
poudrerie,  and  encamped  immediately  below  in  the 
edge  of  the  timber.  The  trail  showed  as  if  a  defeated 
party  had  passed  by — pack-saddles  and  packs,  scatter 
ed  articles  of  clothing,  and  dead  mules  strewed  along. 
A  continuance  of  stormy  weather  paralyzed  all  move 
ment.  We  were  encamped  somewhere  about  12,000 
feet  above  the  sea.  Westward  the  country  was  buried 
in  deep  snow.  It  was  impossible  to  advance,  and  to 
turn  back  was  equally  impracticable.  We  were  over 
taken  by  sudden  and  inevitable  ruin.  It  so  happened 
that  the  only  places  where  any  grass  could  be  had 


72    A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

were  the  extreme  summits  of  the  ridges,  where  the 
sweeping  winds  kept  the  rocky  ground  bare,  and  the 
snow  could  not  lie.  Below  these,  animals  could  not 
get  about,  the  snow  being  deep  enough  to  bury  them. 
Here,  therefore,  in  the  full  violence  of  the  storms,  we 
were  obliged  to  keep  our  animals.  They  could  not 
be  moved  either  way.  It  was  instantly  apparent  that 
we  should  lose  every  animal. 

"I  determined  to  recross  the  mountain  more  towards 
the  open  country,  and  haul  or  pack  the  baggage  (by 
men)  down  to  the  Del  Norte.  With  great  labor  the 
baggage  was  transported  across  the  crest  to  the  head 
springs  of  a  little  stream  leading  to  the  main  river. 
A  few  days  were  sufficient  to  destroy  our  fine  baud  of 
mules.  They  generally  kept  huddled  together,  and  as 
they  froze,  one  would  be  seen  to  tumble  clown,  and 
the  snow  would  cover  him ;  sometimes  they  would 
break  off  and  rush  down  towards  the  timber  until  they 
were  stopped  by  the  deep  snow,  where  they  were  soon 
hidden  by  the  poudrerie.  The  courage  of  the  men  fail 
ed  fast ;  in  fact,  I  have  never  seen  men  so  soon  discour 
aged  by  misfortune  as  we  were  on  this  occasion  ;  but, 
as  you  know,  the  party  was  not  constituted  like  the 
farmer  ones.  But  among  those  who  deserve  to  be  hon 
orably  mentioned,  and  who  behaved  like  what  they 
were— men  of  the  old  exploring  party — were  Godey, 
King,  and  Taplin  ;  and  first  of  all  Godey.  In  this  sit 
uation  I  determined  to  send  in  a  party  to  the  Spanish 
settlements  of  New  Mexico  for  provisions  and  mules 
to  transport  our  baggage  to  Taos.  With  economy, 
and  after  we  should  leave  the  mules,  we  had  not  two 
weeks'  provisions  in  the  camp.  These  consisted  of  a 
store  which  I  had  reserved  for  a  hard  day— macaroni 
and  bacon.  From  among  the  volunteers  I  chose 
King,  Brackeuridge,  Creutzfeldt,  and  the  guide  Will- 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    73 

iams  ;  the  party  under  the  command  of  King.  In  case 
of  the  least  delay  at  the  settlements,  he  was  to  send 
me  an  express.  In  the  meantime,  we  were  to  occupy 
ourselves  in  removing  the  baggage  and  equipage  down 
to  the  Del  Norte,  which  we  reached  with  our  baggage 
in  a  few  days  after  their  departure  (which  was  the  day 
after  Christmas).  Like  many  a  Christmas  for  years 
back,  mine  was  spent  on  the  summit  of  a  wintry 
mountain,  my  heart  filled  with  gloomy  and  anxious 
thoughts,  with  none  of  the  merry  faces  and  pleasant 
luxuries  that  belong  to  that  happy  time.  You  may  be 
sure  we  contrasted  much  this  with  the  last  at  Wash 
ington,  and  speculated  much  on  your  doings,  and  made 
many  warm  wishes  for  your  happiness.  Could  you 
have  looked  into  Agrippa's  glass  for  a  few  moments 
only!  You  remember  the  volumes  of  Blackstoue 
which  I  took  from  your  father's  library  when  we  were 
overlooking  it  at  our  friend  Brant's  ?  They  made  my 
Christmas  amusements.  I  read  them  to  pass  the  heavy 
time  and  forget  what  was  around  me.  Certainly  you 
may  suppose  that  my  first  law  lessons  will  be  well  re 
membered.  Day  after  day  passed  by,  and  no  news 
from  our  express  party.  Snow  continued  to  fall  al 
most  incessantly  on  the  mountain.  The  spirits  of  the 
camp  grew  lower.  Proue  laid  down  in  the  trail  and 
froze  to  death.  In  a  sunshiny  day,  and  having  with 
him  means  to  make  a  fire,  he  threw  his  blankets  down 
in  the  trail  and  lay  there  till  he  froze  to  death.  Aft 
er  sixteen  days  had  elapsed  from  King's  departure,  I 
became  so  uneasy  at  the  delay  that  I  decided  to  wait 
no  longer.  I  was  aware  that  our  troops  had  been  en 
gaged  in  hostilities  with  the  Spanish  Utahs  and  Apa 
ches,  who  range  in  the  North  River  Valley,  and  became 
fearful  that  they  (King's  party)  had  been  cut  off  by 
these  Indians.  I  could  imagine  no  other  accident. 


74    A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

Leaving  the  camp  employed  with  the  baggage  and  in 
charge  of  Mr.  Vincenthaler,  I  started  down  the  river 
with  a  small  party,  consisting  of  Godey  (with  his  young 
nephew),  Mr.  Preuse,  and  Sauudcrs.  We  carried  our 
arms  arid  provisions  for  two  or  three  days.  In  the 
camp  the  messes  had  provisions  for  two  or  three  meals, 
more  or  less,  and  about  live  pounds  of  sugar  to  each 
man.  Failing  to  meet  King,  my  intention  was  to 
make  the  lied  River  settlement,  about  twenty-five 
miles  north  of  Taos,  and  send  back  the  speediest  re 
lief  possible.  My  instructions  to  the  camp  were  that 
if  they  did  not  hear  from  me  in  a  stated  time,  they 
were  to  follow  down  the  Del  Norte. 

"On  the  second  day  after  leaving  camp  we  came 
upon  a  fresh  trail  of  Indians — two  lodges,  with  a  con 
siderable  number  of  animals.  This  did  not  lessen  our 
uneasiness  for  our  people.  As  their  trail  when  we  met 
it  turned  and  went  down  the  river,  we  followed  it.  Ou 
the  fifth  day  we  surprised  an  Indian  on  the  ice  of  the 
river.  He  proved  to  be  a  Utah,  sou  of  a  Grand  River 
chief  we  had  formerly  known,  and  behaved  to  ns  in  a 
friendly  manner.  We  encamped  near  them  at  night. 
By  a  present  of  a  rifle,  my  two  blankets,  and  other 
promised  rewards  when  we  should  get  in,  I  prevailed 
upon  this  Indian  to  go  with  us  as  a  guide  to  the  Red 
River  settlement,  and  take  with  him  four  of  his  horses, 
principally  to  carry  our  little  baggage.  These  were 
wretchedly  poor,  and  could  get  along  only  in  a  very 
slow  walk.  On  that  day  (the  sixth)  we  left  the  lodges 
late,  and  travel  led  only  some  six  or  seven  miles.  About 
punset  we  discovered  a  little  smoke  in  a  grove  of  tim 
ber  off  from  the  river,  and  thinking  perhaps  it  might 
be  our  express  party  on  its  return,  we  went  to  see. 
This  was  the  twenty-second  day  since  they  had  left  us, 
and  the  sixth  since  we  had  left  the  camp.  We  found 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    75 

them— three  of  them,  Crentzfeldt,  Brackenridge,  and 
Williams— the  most  miserable  objects  I  have  ever  seen. 
1  did  not  recognize  Creutzfeldt's  features  when  Brack- 
eurklge  brought  him  up  to  me  and  mentioned  his 
name.  They  had  been  starving.  King  had  starved  to 
death  a  few  days  before.  Eis  remains  were  some  six 
or  eight  miles  above,  near  the  river.  By  aid  of  the 
horses,  we  carried  these  three  men  with  us  to  Red  Riv 
er  settlement,  which,  we  reached  (January  20)  ou  the 
tenth  evening  after  leaving  our  camp  in  the  mountains, 
having  travelled  through  snow  and  on  foot  1GO  mile?. 
I  look  upon  the  anxiety  which  induced  me  to  set  out 
from  the  camp  as  an  inspiration.  Had  I  remained 
there  waiting  the  party  which  had  been  sent  in,  every 
man  of  us  would  probably  have  perished. 

"  The  morning  after  reaching  the  Red  River  town, 
Godey  and  myself  rode  on  to  the  Rio  Hondo  and  Taos 
in  search  of  animals  and  supplies,  and  on  the  second 
evening  after  that  on  which  we  had  reached  Red  Riv 
er,  Godey  had  returned  to  that  place  with  about  thirty 
animals,  provisions,  and  four  Mexicans,  with  which 
he  set  out  for  the  camp  on  the  following  morning. 
On  'the  road  he  received  eight  or  ten  others,  which 
•were  turned  over  to  him  by  the  orders  of  Major  Bea?e, 
the  commanding  officer  of  this  northern  district  of 
New  Mexico.  I  expect  that  Godey  will  reach  this 
place  with  the  party  on  Wednesday  evening,  the  31st. 
From  Major  Beale  I  received  the  offer  of  every  aid  in 
his  power,  and  such  actual  assistance  as  he  was  able 
to  render.  Some  horses  which  he  had  just  recovered 
from  the  Utahs  were  loaned  to  me,  and  he  supplied 
me  from  the  commissary's  department  with  provisions 
which  I  could  have  had  nowhere  else.  I  find  myself 
in  the  midst  of  friends.  With  Carson  is  living  Owens, 
and  Maxwell  is  at  his  father-in-law's,  doing  a  very 


76    A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

prosperous  business  as  a  merchant  and  contractor  for 
the  troops. 

"  Evening. 

"Mr.  St. Train  and  Aubrey,  who  have  just  arrived 
from  Santa  Fe,  called  to  see  me.  I  had  the  pleasure 
to  learn  that  Mr.  St.  Vrain  sets  out  from  Santa  Fe  on 
the  15th  of  February  for  St.  Louis,  so  that  by  him  I 
have  an  early  and  certain  opportunity  of  sending  you 
my  letters.  Beale  left  Santa  F6  on  his  journey  to  Cal 
ifornia  on  the  9th  of  this  month.  He  probably  carried 
011  with  him  any  letters  which  might  have  been  at 
Santa  F6  for  me.  I  shall  probably  reach  California 
with  him  or  shortly  after  him.  Say  to  your  father  that 
these  are  my  plans  for  the  future. 

"At  the  beginning  of  February  (about  Saturday)  I 
shall  set  out  for  California,  taking  the  southern  route 
by  the  Rio  Abajo,  the  Paso  del  Norte,  and  the  south 
side  of  the  Gila,  entering  California  at  the  Agua  Ca- 
liente,  thence  to  Los  Angeles,  and  immediately  north. 
I  shall  break  up  my  party  here,  and  take  with  me  only 
a  few  men.  The  survey  has  been  uninterrupted  up 
to  this  point,  and  I  shall  carry  it  on  consecutively. 
As  soon  as  possible  after  reaching  California  I  wi.l  go 
on  with  the  survey  of  the  coast  and  coast  country. 
Your  father  knows  that  this  is  an  object  of  great  de- 
pire  with  me,  and  I  trust  it  is  not  too  much  to  hope 
that  he  may  obtain  the  countenance  and  aid  of  the 
President  (whoever  he  may  be)  in  carrying  it  on  ef 
fectually  and  rapidly  to  completion.  For  this  I  hope 
earnestly.  I  shall  then  be  enabled  to  draw  up  a  map 
and  report  on  the  whole  country,  agreeably  to  our 
previous  anticipations.  All  my  other  plans  remain 
entirely  unaltered.  I  shall  take  immediate  steps  to 
make  ourselves  a  good  borne  in  California,  and  to 
have  a  place  ready  for  your  reception,  which  I  autici- 


A  YEAH  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    77 

pate  for  April.   My  hopes  and  wishes  are  more  strong 
ly  than  ever  turned  that  way. 

"  Monday,  29. 

"  My  letter  now  assumes  a  journal  form.  No  news 
yet  from  the  party.  A  great  deal  of  falling  weather  ; 
rain  and  sleet  here,  and  snow  in  the  mountains.  This 
is  to  be  considered  a  poor  country — mountainous,  with 
severe  winters  and  but  little  arable  laud.  To  the  Unit 
ed  States  it  seems  to  me  to  offer  little  other  value  than 
the  right  of  way.  It  is  throughout  infested  with  In 
dians,  with  whom,  in  the  course  of  the  present  year, 
the  United  States  will  be  at  war,  as  well  as  in  the 
Oregon  Territory.  To  hold  this  country  will  occa 
sion  the  government  great  expense,  and  "certainly  one 
can  see  no  source  of  profit  or  advantage  :u  it.  An  ad 
ditional  regiment  will  be  required  for  special  service 
here. 

"Mr.  St.  Vrain  dined  with  us  to-day.  Owens  goes 
to  Missouri  in  April  to  get  married,  and  thence  by  wa 
ter  to  California.  Carson  is  very  anxious  to  go  there 
with  me  now,  and  afterwards  remove  his  family  thith 
er,  but  he  cannot  decide  to  break  off  from  Maxwell 
and  family  connection!?. 

"I  am  anxiously  waiting  to  hear  from  my  party,  in 
much  uncertainty  as  to  their  fate.  My  presence  kept 
them  together  and  quiet,  my  absence  may  have  had  a 
bad  effect.  When  we  overtook  King's  starving  party, 
Brackenridge  said  that  he  '  would  rather  have  seen 
me  than  his  father.'  He  felt  himself  safe. 

"  TAOS,  NEW  MEXICO,  February  6, 1849. 

"After  a  long  delay,  which  had  wearied  me  to  n 
point  of  resolving  to  set  out  again  myself,  tidings 
have  at  last  reached  me  from  my  ill-fated  party.  Mr. 
Haler  came  iu  last  night,  having  the  night  before 


78    A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

reached  the  Red  Eiver  settlement,  with  some  three 
or  four  others.  Including  Mr.  King  and  Proue,  we 
have  lost  eleven  of  our  party.  Occurrences  after  I  left 
them  are  briefly  these,  so  far  as  they  are  within  Haler's 
knowledge.  I  say  briefly,  because  DOW  I  am  unwill 
ing  to  force  myself  to  dwell  upon  particulars.  I  wish 
for  a  time  to  shut  out  these  things  from  my  mind,  to 
leave  this  country,  and  all  thoughts  and  all  things 
connected  with  recent  events,  which  have  been  so  sig 
nally  disastrous  as  absolutely  to  astonish  me  with  a 
persistence  of  misfortune,  which  no  precaution  has 
been  adequate  on  my  part  to  avert. 

"  You  will  remember  that  I  had  left  the  camp  with 
occupation  sufficient  to  employ  them  for  three  or  four 
days,  after  which  they  were  to  follow  me  down  the 
river.  Within  that  time  I  had  expected  the  relief 
from  King,  if  it  was  to  come  at  all. 

"  They  remained  where  I  had  left  them  seven  days, 
and  then  started  down  the  river.  Manuel— you  will 
remember  Manuel,  the  Cosumne  Indian — gave  way  to 
a  feeling  of  despair  after  they  had  travelled  about  two 
miles,  begged  Haler  to  shoot  him,  and  then  turned 
and  made  his  way  back  to  the  camp,  intending  to  die 
there,  as  he  doubtless  soon  did.  They  followed  our 
trail  down  the  river — twenty-two  men  they  were  iu 
all.  About  ten  miles  below  the  camp,  Wise  gave  out, 
threw  away  his  gun  and  blanket,  and  a  few  hundred 
yards  farther  fell  over  into  the  snow  and  died.  Two 
Indian  boys — young  men,  countrymen  of  Manuel — 
were  behind.  They  rolled  up  Wise  in  his  blanket, 
and  buried  him  in  the  snow  on  the  river-bank.  No 
more  died  that  day— none  the  next.  Carver  raved 
during  the  night,  his  imagination  wholly  occupied 
with  images  of  many  things  which  he  fancied  himself 
eating.  In  the  morning  he  wandered  off  from  the 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    79 

party,  and  probably  soon  died.  They  did  not  see 
him  again.  Sorel  on  this  day  gave  out,  and  laid  dov:n 
to  die.  They  built  him  a  fire,  and  Morin,  who  was  iu 
a  dying  condition,  and  snow-blind,  remained.  These 
two  did  not  probably  last  till  the  next  morning.  That 
evening,  I  think,  Ilubbard  killed  a  deer.  They  trav 
elled  on,  getting  here  and  there  a  grouse,  but  proba 
bly  nothing  else,  the  snow  having  frightened  off  the 
game.  Things  were  desperate,  and  brought  Haler  to 
the  determination  of  breaking  up  the  party  in  order 
to  prevent  them  from  living  upon  each  other.  lie 
told  them  '  that  he  had  done  all  he  could  for  them, 
that  they  had  no  other  hope  remaining  than  the  ex 
pected  relief,  and  that  their  best  plan  was  to  scatte;- 
and  make  the  best  of  their  way  in  small  parties  down 
the  river.  That,  for  his  part,  if  he  was  to  be  eaten,  he 
would,  at  all  events,  be  found  travelling  when  he  did 
die.'  They  accordingly  separated.  With  Mr.  Haler 
continued  five  others  and  the  two  Indian  boys.  Roh- 
rer  now  became  very  despondent.  Haler  encouraged 
him  by  recalling  to  mind  his  family,  and  urged  him  to 
hold  out  a  little  longer.  On  this  day  he  fell  behind, 
but  promised  to  overtake  them  at  evening.  Haler, 
Scott,  Ilubbard,  and  Martin  agreed  that  if  any  one  of 
them  should  give  out,  the  others  were  not  to  wait  for 
him  to  die,  but  build  a  fire  for  him,  and  push  on.  At 
night  Kern's  mess  encamped  a  few  hundred  yards 
from  Haler's,  with  the  intention,  according  to  Taplin, 
to  remain  where  they  were  until  the  relief  should 
come,  and,  in  the  meantime,  to  live  upon  those  who 
had  died,  and  upon  the  weaker  ones  as  they  should 
die.  With  the  three  Kerns  were  Cathcart,  Andrews, 
M'Kie,  Stepperfeldt,  and  Taplin. 

"Ferguson  and  Beadle  had  remained  together  be 
hind.    In  the  evening  Kohrcr  came  up  and  remained 


80    A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

with  Kern's  mess.  Mr.  Haler  learned  afterwards  from 
that  mess  that  Rohrer  and  Andrews  wandered  off  the 
next  clay  and  died.  They  say  they  saw  their  bodies. 
In  the  morning  Ilaler's  party  continued  ou.  After  a 
few  hours  Hubbard  gave  out.  They  built  him  a  fire, 
gathered  him  some  wood,  and  left  him,  without,  as 
Haler  says,  turning  their  heads  to  look  at  him  as  they 
went  off.  About  two  miles  farther,  Scott  —  you  re 
member  Scott,  who  used  to  shoot  birds  for  you  at  the 
frontier— gave  out.  They  did  the  same  for  him  as  for 
Hubbard,  and  continued  on.  In  the  afternoon  the  In 
dian  boys  went  ahead,  and  before  nightfall  met  Godey 
with  the  relief.  Haler  heard  and  knew  the  guns 
which  he  fired  for  him  at  night,  and,  starting  early  in 
the  morning,  soon  met  him.  1  hear  that  they  all 
cried  together  like  children.  Ilaler  turned  back  with 
Godey,  and  went  with  him  to  where  they  had  left 
Scott.  He  was  still  alive,  and  was  saved.  Hubbard 
was  dead— still  warm.  From  Kern's  mess  they  learned 
the  death  of  Andrews  and  Rohrer,  and  a  little  above 
met  Ferguson,  who  told  them  that  Beadle  had  died 
the  night  before. 

."Godey  continued  on  with  a  few  New  Mexicans 
and  pack-mules  to  bring  down  the  baggage  from  the 
camp.  Haler,  with  Martin  and  Bacon,  on  foot,  and 
bringing  Scott  on  horseback,  have  first  arrived  at  the 
Red  River  settlement.  Provisions  and  horses  for 
them  to  ride  were  left  with  the  others,  who  preferred 
to  rest  on  the  river  until  Godey  came  back.  At  the 
latest,  they  should  all  have  reached  Red  River  settle 
ment  last  night,  and  ought  all  to  be  here  this  evening. 
When  Godey  arrives,  I  shall  know  from  him  all  the 
circumstances  sufficiently  in  detail  to  enable  me  to 
understand  clearly  everything.  But  it  will  not  be 
necessary  to  tell  you  anything  further.  It  has  been 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    81 

sufficient  pain  for  you  to  read  what  I  have  already 
written. 

"As  I  told  you,  I  shall  break  up  my  party  here.  I 
have  engaged  n  Spaniard  to  furnish  mules  to  take  my 
little  party,  with  our  baggage,  as  far  down  the  Del 
Norte  as  Albuquerque.  To-morrow  a  friend  sets  out 
to  purchase  me  a  few  mules,  with  which  he  is  to  meet 
me  at  Albuquerque,  and  thence  I  continue  the  journey 
on  my  own  animals.  My  road  will  take  me  down  the 
Del  Norte  about  160  miles  below  Albuquerque,  and 
then  passes  between  this  river  and  the  heads  of  the 
Gila  to  a  little  Mexican  town  called,  I  think,  Tusson ; 
thence  to  the  mouth  of  the  Gila  and  across  the  Colo 
rado,  direct  to  Agua  Calieute,  into  California.  I  in 
tend  to  make  the  journey  rapidly,  and  about  the  mid 
dle  of  March  hope  for  the  great  pleasure  of  hearing 
from  home.  I  look  for  a  large  supply  of  newspapers 
and  documents,  more,  perhaps,  because  these  things 
have  a  home  look  about  them  than  on  their  own  ac 
count.  When  I  think  of  you  all,  I  feel  a  warm  glow 
at  my  heart,  which  renovates  it  like  a  good  medicine, 
and  I  forget  painful  feelings  in  a  strong  hope  for  the 
future.  We  shall  yet  enjoy  quiet  and  happiness  to 
gether—these  are  nearly  one  and  the  same  to  me  now. 
I  make  frequently  pleasant  pictures  of  the  happy  home 
we  are  to  have,  and  oftenest  and  among  the  pleasant- 
est  of  all  I  see  our  library,  with  its  bright  fire  in  the 
rainy,  stormy  days,  and  the  large  windows  looking  out 
upon  the  sea  in  the  bright  weather.  I  have  it  all 
planned  in  my  own  mind." 

******* 

Now  friends  and  strangers  both  rose  to 
protest  against  my  going  any  farther;  ev 
ery  one  was  convinced  that,  after  such  fa- 


82    A  YEAB  OP  AMERICAN  TEAVEL. 

tignes  and  starvation,  Mr.  Fremont  would 
not  succeed  in  making  his  way  through  an 
unknown  country  to  California,  and  that  I 
should  find  no  one  to  meet  me  when  I  did 
reach  there.  This  decided  me  to  go  on, 
for  I  could  not  accept  that  idea. 

The  ladies  in  whose  house  I  was  were  as 
kind  as  possible  to  me,  and  fortunately  I 
could  speak  Spanish  with  them.  All  this 
time  there  wras  no  steamer  either  from  round 
the  Horn  or  from  California,  and  the  only 
way  of  leaving  the  Isthmus  was  to  return 
to  New  York,  which  was  insisted  upon  by 
friends  who  thought  that  I  ought  not  to 
wait  any  longer,  with  such  uncertainties 
of  transfer,  and  the  greater  uncertainty 
ahead.  It  was  a  forlorn  situation.  On 
the  yellowed  leaf  of  a  "  little  well-worn 
book,"  in  faded  ink,  I  see  now  the  words, 
"Alone.  Panama,  May,  1849,"  and  the 
quotation, 

"  Ou  a  narrow  strip  of  land, 
'Twixt  two  unbounded  seas,  I  stand." 

Mr.  Gray,  one  of  the  Boundary  Commission 
ers,  came  to  me  early  one  morning  with  a 
newspaper  containing  a  long  letter  from  my 


A  YEAR  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    83 

father  regarding  the  expedition,  in  which 
he  gave,  for  the  benefit  of  the  friends  of 
those  with  Mr.  Fremont,  all  that  was  known 
positively  of  the  expedition,  and  the  most 
reasonable  and  reasoning  conjectures  as  to 
the  safety  and  results  of  that  which  had 
just  started  again  from  New  Mexico. 
About  sundown  Mr.  Gray  came  back  with 
another  newspaper,  with  still  more  on  the 
same  subject.  He  found  me  where  he  had 
left  me  in  the  morning — sitting  upon  the 
sofa,  with  the  unopened  paper  clasped  in 
my  hand,  my  eyes  closed,  and  my  forehead 
purple  from  congestion  of  the  brain,  and 
entirely  unable  to  understand  anything 
said  to  me.  All  the  long  train  of  troubled 
feeling  and  uncertainties  and  discomforts, 
aided  by  the  climate,  had  culminated  in 
brain-fever. 

Now  came  all  the  benefit  of  being  in  a 
private  family;  Madame  Arce*  cared  for  me 
as  though  I  had  been  her  own  child,  and 
so  conscientiously  that  she  summoned  an 
American,  although  her  own  preference 
was  for  her  Spanish  family  physician.  His 
course  of  treatment  was  to  exclude  all  out- 


84         A   YEAR   OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

er  air,  and  follow  the  old  Spanish  practice 
of  bleeding,  and  hot  water  internally  and 
externally.  The  American  physician  (at 
tached  to  the  Boundary  Commission)  was 
for  iced  drinks,  cooling  applications  to  the 
head,  currents  of  fresh  air,  and  blisters. 
These  two,  with  their  contradictory  ideas 
and  their  inability  to  understand  each 
other  fully,  only  added  to  the  confusion 
of  my  mind,  and  became  part  of  my  de 
lirium.-  My  lungs  were  congested,  and  it 
was  needed  to  apply  a  blister  all  over  the 
chest.  No  leeches  could  be  had,  and  cro- 
ton-oil,  which  would  have  answered  the 
purpose  without  leaving  disfiguring  marks, 
was  not  to  be  found  anywhere.  And  here 
I  had  another  of  the  kindnesses  done  me, 
of  which  I  have  had  so  many  before  and 
since,  from  American  men,  who  deserve 
fully  their  reputation  for  disinterested  kind 
ness  and  care  towards  Women.  No  one  ven 
tured  willingly  into  the  sun ;  but  a  gentle 
man  had  himself  rowed  out  to  ah  English 
man-of-war  which  lay  in  the  bay,  and  found 
in  their  medicine-chest  the  croton-oil  that 
was  needed.  This  was  no  small  thing  to 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    85 

do.  The  reef  in  the  harbor  at  Panama  is 
so  far  extended  that  vessels  had  to  lie  out 
about  three  miles ;  the  tide  rises  twenty- 
five  feet,  so  that  not  only  \vas  it  a  protract 
ed  exposure  to  the  sun,  but  dangerous  from 
the  impetuosity  with  which  the  tide  came 
in. 

My  brother-in-law  all  this  time  remained 
dangerously  ill  from  the  effects  of  his  sun 
stroke,  and  as  he  had  to  be  taken  back  to 
the  United  States,  even  my  new  Spanish 
friends  thought  I  too  should  return  at  the 
same  time.  I  had  become  well  enough  to 
walk  as  far  as  the  ramparts,  which  were 
very  near  the  house.  All  the  Americans 
came  there  the  hour  before  sunset,  the  only 
cool  time  of  the  day.  They  were  an  eager, 
animated  set  of  people  when  first  there,  but 
the  failure  of  the  steamers  to  arrive  had 
told  upon  every  one.  They  felt,  like  ship 
wrecked  people,  that  there  was  no  escape 
from  there  ;  every  sailing  vessel  that  could 
be  chartered  had  been  to  carry  up  the  peo 
ple.  Those  who  had  their  through  tickets 
still  held  to  the  hope  that  one  steamer 
might  come  round  the  Horn  if  the  other 


86    A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

did  not  return.  The  first  time  I  went  to 
the  ramparts  after  my  illness  the  sight  of 
this  discouraged  set  of  people  almost  de 
cided  me  to  go  home,  all  the  more  that 
with  the  natural  kindliness  of  fellow-coun 
trymen  in  a  distant  place  many  of  them 
came  up,  as  I  sat  upon  the  old  brass  gun 
in  an  embrasure,  to  tell  me  how  glad  they 
were  I  had  not  died,  and  begged  me  not  to 
stay  there  any  longer,  but  to  go  back.  I 
was  spared  the  necessity  of  deciding  for 
or  against  by  the  simultaneous  arrival  of 
the  two  steamers,  one  from  California,  the 
other  from  around  the  Horn,  both  getting 
there  in  the  night  within  an  hour  of  each 
other ;  so  that  their  guns  were  mistaken 
for  a  second  fire — it  was  supposed  the  first 
steamer  had  fired  again.  Every  one  had 
been  listening  for  weeks  for  these  guns. 
It  was  a  splendid  moonlight  night,  about 
two  o'clock,  and  in  a  few  minutes  all  the 
Americans  had  crowded  to  the  ramparts, 
and  the  native  people  were  up  and  talk 
ing  on  the  streets.  All  the  passengers  were 
landing,  but  the  interest  concentrated  on 
those  from  California.  Straightway  men 


A  YEAR   OP   AMERICAN   TRAVEL.         87 

forgot  all  the  trials  connected  with  the 
crossing  and  the  waiting,,  for  there  was  the 
stream  of  returning  gold-diggers,  bringing 
with  them  the  evidence  that  in  the  new 
country  was  more  than  justification  for  all 
the  trials  they  were  going  through  with  to 
reach  there.  Of  course  I  was  up,  dressed, 
and  looking  at  all  this  busy  throng  crowd 
ing  the  great  square  which  was  in  front  of 
our  house.  I  heard  my  own  name,  and 
caught  sight  of  a  familiar  face  and  uniform 
as  two  gentlemen  turned  into  the  entrance 
below  the  balcony.  One  of  them  was  say 
ing,  "  Mrs.  Fremont  here  !  Heavens,  what 
a  crib  for  a  lady  !"  The  naval  officer*  was 
on  his  way  direct  to  Washington  with  of 
ficial  statements  and  gold  specimens  for 
warded  to  the  government.  Here  was  the 
hardest  trial  for  me.  This  time  I  was  not 
advised  but  ordered  to  go  home,  and  every 
thing  short  of  force  was  used  to  make  me 
return,  under  their  care.  I  had  only  a  few 
hours  to  decide,  for  at  the  earliest  light 
thev  had  to  leave  to  connect  with  the  re- 


Edward  F.  Beale,  late  minister  to  Austria. 


88         A  YEAR  OF   AMERICAN   TRAVEL. 

In  the  chronicle  of  the  conquest  of  Mexico 
there  is  one  night  of  disaster  and  massacre 
which  Bernal  Diaz  records  under  the  head 
tristlsima  noche  ;  I  had  had  many  sad  nights 
since  leaving  home,  but  after  my  old  friends 
left  I  think  I  could  name  this  my  saddest. 

After  this  I  did  no  more  deciding,  but 
let  myself  go  with  the  current.  The  Pana 
ma,  having  just  come  round  the  Horn  with 
but  few  passengers,  and  having  had  for  its 
commander  Lieutenant  (now  Admiral)  Por 
ter,  was  in  admirable  condition,  and  I  was 
put  upon  her.  Her  sister  steamer  was  in 
all  the  disorder  and  discomfort  resulting 
from  the  want  of  a  proper  crew  and  ser 
vants.  Lieutenant  Porter  left  the  ship 
here,  and  the  captain  who  took  charge 
broke  down  on  the  voyage  from  fever,  and 
died  shortly  after.  There  were  accommo 
dations  at  most  for  eighty  passengers  ;  we 
had  over  four  hundred.  The  ship's  stew 
ard  gave  us  scanty  fore,  reserving  the  can 
ned  provisions  to  sell  for  his  own  benefit. 
For  a  piece  of  gold  he  would  sell  a  little 
can  of  vegetables  or  preserved  meat.  As 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    89 

usual,  I,  however,  was  thoroughly  well  tak 
en  care  of.  My  cough  was  incessant  and 
racking,  and  I  saw  so  many  eyes  turned  to 
me  with  pity  in  them  that  I  left  the  deck 
and  went  to  my  cabin  to  be  where  I  would 
disturb  no  one.  The  gentleman  in  the 
next  state-room  became  alarmed  by  the 
peculiar  sound  of  the  cough  which  he  un 
derstood  better  than  I  did,  and  getting  no 
answer  to  his  knock  opened  the  door  and 
found  me,  as  he  feared,  with  a  broken  blood 
vessel.  After  that  I  was  better  off  than  be 
fore,  for  they  made  me  a  room  on  the  quar 
ter-deck  with  the  big  flag  doubled  and 
thrown  over  the  boom.  Everybody  con 
tributed  something  to  make  me  comfort 
able  :  one  a  folding  iron  camp-bedstead — 
some,  guava  jelly — some,  tea — while  one  of 
my  fellow-passengers  gave  me  from  his  own 
private  stores  delicate  nourishing  things 
which  brought  back  my  strength,  and  per 
sonally  superintended  their  preparation. 
That  this  was  kindly  felt  as  well  as  well 
clone  will  be  understood  by  all  who  know 
him — Mr.  Samuel  Ward.  There  were  sev 
eral  ladies,  and  one  of  them,  the  wife  of  an 


90    A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

officer,  shared  my  deck  tent.  The  ship  was 
so  crowded  that  the  whole  floor  of  the  deck 
was  chalked  out  into  measured  spaces  allot 
ted  to  persons  who  slept  there.  My  state 
room  was  kept  merely  for  a  dressing-room, 
and  I  let  a  good  quiet  woman  who  was  out 
of  money,  and  whose  husband  was  working 
his  passage  lip,  sleep  there.  My  "  reliable 
woman  "  claimed  her  place  in  it,  but  she 
had  to  go  up  in  the  steerage.  I  had  paid 
all  her  expenses  in  Panama  at  the  hotel, 
and  through  to  San  Francisco,  on  condi 
tion  that  she  never  came  in  my  sight.  The 
seven  wreeks  in  Panama  had  proved  that 
new  scenes  brought  no  desire  for  reforma 
tion,  and  by  this  time  there  was  no  popular 
opinion  to  sustain  her.  To  dismiss  her  with 
a  completed  record,  I  will  add  that  one  of 
the  great  fires  in  San  Francisco  in  1851  was 
traced  to  her,  where  she  had  set  fire  to  her 
dwelling-house  in  revenge  on  Mr.  De  Lessert 
for  having  refused  to  permit  her  to  remain 
as  his  tenant.  The  Vigilance  Committee,  as 
she  was  a  woman,  disliked  to  punish  her  as 
they  did  other  criminals ;  so  she  was  only 
sent  out  of  the  country.  It  must  have  been 


A   YEAH   OF  AMERICAN   TRAVEL.         91 

some  comfort  to  her  to  know  that  my  house 
was  burned  in  the  fire  she  had  started. 

The  first  voyage  had  only  made  me  know 
the  ocean  by  day,  but  on  this  journey  up 
the  Pacific  I  learned  to  know  it  by  night 
also.  My  flag  tent  on  deck  first  taught  me 
the  luxury  of  sleeping  in  the  open  air,  a  la 
"belle  etoile,  truly;  and  the  still  greater  de 
light  of  watching  the  night  through  all  its 
phases,  and  seeing  the  sun  rise  from  the 
ocean :  it  was  full  compensation  for  all  the 
discomforts  of  the  voyage.  As  I  have  said, 
the  deck  was  parcelled  out  into  sleeping- 
places;  nearest  us  were  the  gentlemen  of 
our  more  immediate  party  and  acquaint 
ance.  I  overheard  among  these  one  night 
a  stir  and  murmuring  which  took  shape  to 
my  mind  as  the  announcement  of  some  im 
pending  danger;  I  caught  the  sense  that 
the  captain  would  not  open  his  door,  that 
the  captain  would  not  answer  any  one,  and 
then  the  quick  decision  to  do  themselves 
what  was  necessary.  A  new  sound  was 
added  to  that  made  by  the  steamer's  way 
through  the  water — a  low,  busy,  grating, 
whispering  sound  of  waters — and  I  could 


02    A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

see  long  broken  lines  of  foamy  white,  which 
even  my  inexperience  told  me  were  unusual. 
Seeing  that  we  were  sitting  up  and  listen 
ing,  we  were  told  not  to  be  alarmed,  al 
though  we  were  in  sound  of  the  breakers, 
that  there  was  time  yet  to  work  the  ship 
off,  and  that  Captain  Ringgold  had  taken 
command.  I  was  too  ignorant  to  be  alarm 
ed.  To  me  it  was  only  a  beautiful  new 
phase  of  the  sea.  It  was  fortunate  for  us 
that  we  had  experienced  naval  officers  on 
board,  for  the  captain  remained  ill,  and  they 
proved  a  safe  dependence. 

As  our  voyage  wore  on,  the  lack  of  read 
ing-matter  began  to  be  felt ;  we  had  all  ex 
hausted  our  supply  during  the  long  deten 
tion  at  Panama  before  getting  on  ship 
board,  and  there  was  nothing  to  be  ex 
changed,  for  each  one  had  the  same  thing. 
Everybody  had  a  Shakespeare  and  not  much 
besides.  Something  was  said  among  us 
one  day  about  this  :  how  people  inevitably 
read  the  same  books,  thought  the  same 
thoughts,  and  used  the  same  expressions; 
how  rare  it  was  under  the  sun  to  find  any 
thing  new  or  fresh  ;  whether  from  want  of 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    93 

courage  to  do  our  own  thinking,  or  unwill 
ingness  to  make  the  breach  in  received 
usages,  we  continually  would  follow  in 
grooves  laid  for  us.  The  first  school  of 
whales  we  met  illustrated  this.  I  sent  dif 
ferent  gentlemen  about  the  deck  to  quietly 
ascertain  what  the  people  were  writing  in 
their  note-books,  for  every  one  had  produced 
a  little  note-book  as  soon  as  the  whales  were 
seen.  I  was  sure  that  the  greater  number 
would  put  it,  "  This  morning,  for  the  first 
time,  we  met  the  leviathan  of  the  deep  dis 
porting  himself  in  liis  native  element,"  or, 
"  Glorious  sight !  huge  monsters  at  play  !" 
I  was  sure  very  few  would  call  a  whale  a 
whale,  and  it  proved  so.  It  was  a  morn 
ing's  fun  for  us  to  watch  the  different  am 
bassadors  on  their  missions:  they  would 
draw  out  the  unsuspecting  writer,  saying 
"  there  was  a  fine  sight ;"  "  something  to 
write  home  about ;"  "  it  was  very  hard  to 
keep  a  journal  on  a  monotonous  sea-voy 
age,"  etc.  Then  the  writer  would  proudly 
read  out  what  he  had  been  preparing  for 
home.  In  almost  every  case  it  was  the 
stereotyped  sentence.  When  the  returns 


94         A  YEAR   OF   AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

were  in,  we  found  "  the  leviathan  "  had  it 
by  an  immense  majority ;  very  few  whales. 

For  myself,  I  did  not  miss  books.  I  was 
in  the  languid  content  of  convalescence, 
and  it  was  enough  to  lie  still  and  take  in 
so  much  that  was  new  and,  as  a  German 
friend  of  mine  puts  it,  "  harmonious"  to  me. 
From  my  flag  tent  on  deck  I  loved  to  look 
out,  myself  in  shadow,  to  the  deep  blue  of 
the  ocean,  stretching  far,  for,  to  where  it 
joined  with  the  line  of  the  cloudless  blue 
sky — to  the  calm  splendor  of  the  bronze 
and  golden  sunset  cloucls  at  that  grand  mo 
ment  of  the  sun's  setting  in  the  ocean.  I 
had  never  before  seen  the  stars  all  through 
a  night.  I  had  not  known  how  close,  how 
animated,  they  could  be.  I  had  never 
watched  the  paling  of  the  stars  before  the 
coming  day,  nor  that  beautiful  ripple  that, 
just  at  sunrise,  comes  with  the  first  breath 
of  morning.  Like  nothing  else  in  nature  for 
its  suggestion  of  freshness  and  new  happy 
life,  except  the  smile  that  sometimes  comes 
on  the  face  of  a  sleeping  baby  about  to 
wake. 

There  was  no  need  to  keep  a  journal 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    95 

Everything  burned  itself  in  its  own  image 
on  my  mind,  and  all  settled  there  as  part 
of  the  endless  talks  I  should  have  when, 
returned  home,  like  Sindbad,  I  should  re 
late  my  voyages. 

Against  all  adverse  circumstances  was 
the  pure  air  of  the  ocean  coming  into  my 
lungs  night  and  day  and  healing  them. 
By  the  time  we  reached  San  Diego  I  was 
fairly  well ;  but  I  do  not  know  how  it  would 
have  been  if  fresh  discouragements  had 
reached  me  there.  At  this  point  I  was  to 
learn  whether  Mr.  Fremont  had  or  had  not 
arrived  in  California.  As  we  dropped 
anchor,  and  boats  put  off  to  us  from  the 
shore,  I  went  below.  If  I  had  needed  any 
proof  of  the  universal  good  feeling  and  in 
terest  in  me,  it  came  now,  for  I  think  the 
whole  ship's  passengers  crowded  to  my 
door.  "The  Colonel  has  come!"  "The 
Colonel  is  safe  I"  "  It's  all  right  now, 
madam !"  "  The  Colonel  was  in  the  Ange 
les  three  weeks  ago,"  and  had  gone  up 
overland  to  meet  the  steamer,  which  was 
overdue.  Then  their  fears  and  sympathies 
were  openly  expressed  to  me.  No  one  had 


96    A  YEAR  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

thought  it  possible  that  a  party  so  broken 
down  with  hardships  could  force  its  way 
in  the  winter  months  through  the  then  un 
known  country,  and  they  dreaded  the  re 
sult  for  me. 

The  few  remaining  days  of  the  journey 
were  completely  charming.  We  had  come 
into  bracing  cool  air,  which  repaired  the 
damage  done  by  the  tropics,  and  every  one 
was  eager  and  confident  of  success  in  the 
now  certain  gold  country.  Major  Derby 
("  John  Phoenix  ")  gave  way  to-  his  wildest 
fun  and  high  spirits,  and  organized  a  series 
of  tableaux  vivants  and  theatricals  that  were 
acted  every  night  on  deck  in  a  way  that 
would  have  made  the  fortune  of  a  theatrical 
manager — there  were  many  cultivated  and 
charming  people  among  the  passengers — 
and  altogether  life  seemed  very  bright  and 
full  of  happy  possibilities  as  we  entered 
the  Golden  Gate.* 

*  "Called  Chrysopylce,  (Golden  Gate)  on  the  map,  on 
the  same  principle  that  the  harbor  of  Byzantium— 
Constantinople  afterwards  —  was  called  Chrysocerai 
(Golden  Horn).  The  form  of  the  harbor  and  its  ad 
vantages  for  commerce,  and  that  before  it  became  ail 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.    97 

We  found  a  bleak  and  meagre  frontispiece 
to  our  Book  of  Fate.  A  few  low  houses,  and 
many  tents,  such  as  they  were,  covered  the 
base  of  some  of  the  wind-swept  treeless  hills, 
over  which  the  June  fog  rolled  its  chilling 
mist.  Deserted  ships  of  all  sorts  were 
swinging  with  the  tide.  A  crowd  of  men 
swarmed  about  what  is  now  Montgomery 
Street,  then  the  mud  shore  of  the  bay.  It 
was  Aladdin's  old  lamp,  however,  homely 
as  it  seemed,  and  fortune  was  there  for  those 
who  had  what  my  father  used  to  call  "  a 


entrepot  of  Eastern  commerce,  suggested  the  name  to 
the  Greek  founders  of  Byzantium.  The  form  of  the 
bay  of  San  Francisco  and  its  advantages  for  com 
merce,  Asiatic  inclusive,  suggest  the  name  which  is 
given  to  this  entrance." 

This  is  a  foot-note  occurring  in  "  Senate  Document, 
Miscellaneous,  No.  148,  Thirtieth  Congress,  First  Ses 
sion."  A  resolution  dated  "  June  5, 1848,"  ordered  the 
printing  of  this  document,  which'is  called  "Geograph 
ical  Memoir  upon  Upper  California  in  Illustration  of 
his  Map  of  Oregon  and  California,  by  John  Charles 
Fremont." 

There  have  been  various  versions  of  the  naming  of 
the  entrance  to  the  bay  of  San  Francisco.  This  was 
the  origin  of  the  name  given  on  the  map  published  in 
June  of  '4S.  The  first  gold  was  found  in  August  of 
that  year.  J.  B.  F. 

7 


98    A  YEAR  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

stomach  for  a  fight,"  or  for  those  who,  born 
lucky,  succeed  by  virtue  of  the  unknown 
force  to  which  we  concede  that  term. 

The  mere  landing  of  the  passengers  wras 
a  problem.  The  crews  who  took  boats  to 
shore  were  pretty  sure  not  to  come  back. 
The  Ohio,  Captain  Ap  Catesby  Jones  com 
manding,  was  there.  Captain  Jones  very 
kindly  invited  me  on  board  to  remain  until 
Mr.  Fre'mont  should  arrive,  for  I  had  the 
disappointment  of  finding  he  was  not  yet 
here.  Mr.  Howard,  a  wealthy  merchant,  had 
brought  out  his  boat,  and  I  accepted  his 
invitation,  as  after  so  much  sea  travel  the 
land  was  best  for  me. 

There  were  then  some  three  or  four  regu 
larly  built  houses  in  Sail  Francisco,  repre 
senting  the  Hudson  Bay  and  the  Kussian 
hide  business ;  the  rest  were  canvas  and 
blanket  tents.  Of  course  there  \vas  no  lum 
ber  there  for  building,  and  there  were  not 
even  trees  to  be  cut  down ;  nor  would  any 
man  have  diverted  his  attention  from  the 
mines  to  go  to  house-building.  A  little 
later,  when  they  found  the  hardships  of 
mining  life  too  great  and  the  returns  too 


A  YEAR   OF   AMERICAN   TRAVEL.         99 

uncertain,  the  tide  turned,  and  many  men 
came  back  to  make  fortunes  at  steady  work 
in  building  up  the  town.  Sixteen  dollars 
a  day  was  ordinary  pay  for  carpenters.  The 
young  officers  of  the  army  and  navy  there 
used  to  lament  to  me  that  their  business  was 
so  far  less  profitable.  One  of  them  turned 
to  profit  his  having  been  on  the  Wilkes  sur 
veying  expedition,  and  made  really  a  great 
sum  of  money  by  piloting  in  the  thick  in 
coming  fleet  of  vessels  of  all  sorts. 

I  was  taken  to  one  of  these  houses,  which 
had  been  the  residence  of  Liedesdorff,  the 
Russian  consul,  who  had  recently  died  there. 
It  was  a  time  of  wonderful  contrasts.  This 
was  a  well-built  adobe  house  one  story  high, 
with  a  good  veranda  about  it,  and  a  beau 
tiful  garden  kept  in  old-world  order  by  a 
Scotch  gardener.  Luxuries  of  every  kind 
were  to  be  had,  but  there  were  wanting 
some  necessaries.  Fine  carpets  and  fine  fur 
niture  and  a  fine  Broadwood  piano,  and  no 
house-maid.  The  one  room  with  a  fire-place 
had  been  prepared  for  my  sleeping-room, 
and  had  French  furniture  and  no  end  of 
mirrors,  but  lacked  a  fire. 


100   A  YEAR  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

The  June  winds  were  blowing,  and  I  felt 
them  the  more  from  recent  illness,  which 
had  left  the  lungs  very  sensitive.  There 
was  no  fuel  proper;  and  little  fagots  of 
brush-wood,  broken-up  goods  boxes  and 
sodden  ends  of  old  ship  timber  were  all 
that  could  be  had. 

The  club  of  wealthy  merchants  who  had 
this  house  together  had  excellent  Chinese 
servants,  but  to  make  everything  comfort 
able  to  me  they  added  the  only  woman  that 
could  be  procured,  who  accepted  a  tempo 
rary  place  of  chamber-maid  at  two  hundred 
and  forty  dollars  a  month  and  perquisites. 
One  of  the  perquisites  was  the  housing  of  her 
husband  and  children  as  well  as  herself.  She 
had  been  washer -woman  to  a  New  York 
regiment,  and  was  already  the  laundress  of 
these  gentlemen.  She  wras  kind  enough  to 
tell  me  that  she  liked  my  clothes,  and  would 
take  the  pattern  of  certain  dresses,  and  seem 
ed  to  think  it  a  matter  of  course  that  I  would 
let  her  carry  off  gowns  and  wraps  to  be 
copied  by  her  dress-maker,  a  Chinaman.  I 
declined  this  as  civilly  as  I  could,  but  the 
result  was  that  she  threw  up  the  situation. 


A  YEAR   O5    AMKlUCAft   THA^SI.      JQf 

The  only  realty  privatexn6use  was  one  be 
longing  to  a  young  New-Yorker,  who  had 
it  shipped  from  home,  house  and  furniture 
complete — a  double  two-story  frame  house, 
which,  when  in  place,  was  said  to  have  cost 
ninety  thousand  dollars.  At  this  price,  with 
the  absence  of  timber  and  the  absence  of 
labor,  it  will  be  seen  that  it  was  difficult  to 
have  any  other  shelter  than  a  tent.  The 
bride  for  whose  reception  this  house  was  in 
tended  arrived  just  before  me,  but  lived  only 
a  few  weeks ;  the  sudden  and  great  changes 
of  climate  from  our  Northern  weather  into 
the  tropics,  and  from  the  tropics  again  into 
the  raw,  harsh  winds  of  that  season  at  San 
Francisco,  were  too  much  for  her,  even  with 
all  the  comforts  of  her  own  beautiful  home. 
At  a  party  given  to  welcome  her  the  whole 
force  of  San  Francisco  society  came  out,  the 
ladies  sixteen  in  number. 

Visits  in  the  daytime  were  held  as  a  mark 
ed  attention.  I  was  told  that  "time  was 
worth  fifty  dollars  a  minute,"  and  that  I 
must  hold  as  a  great  compliment  the  brief 
visits  which  were  made  to  me  constantly 
through  the  day  by  busy  men. 


?.OS      J>    ^fcAR   OV?   A  -\IE1?ICA.TT   TRAVEL. 


was  not  billy  gold  'to  be  had  at  the 
mines,  but  a  golden  shower  was  falling  for 
whoever  had  wit  to  catch  it.  I  heard  of 
many  marvellous  strokes  of  fortune,  which 
caused  elevated  eyebrows  when  I  repeated 
them  on  my  return. 

Our  steamer  was  to  have  put  in  at  Mon 
terey,  but  her  fuel  was  so  nearly  exhausted 
that  we  made  straight  for  San  Francisco. 
Mr.  Frgmont  had  ridden  up  from  the  An 
geles  to  Monterey  to  meet  me,  and,  after 
waiting  there  a  little,  and  no  steamer  ar 
riving,  came  on  to  San  Francisco,  getting 
there  about  ten  days  after  I  did  —  fortunate 
ly  for  me,  for  I  was  already  getting  ill  again 
with  morbid  imaginings  that  I  had  been  de 
ceived,  and  that  he  had  not  arrived  in  the 
country  at  all.  Now  that  we  have  the  tele 
graph  and  railroad,  as  well  as  our  steamer 
connection,  only  those  who  experienced  the 
want  of  all  these  can  realize  the  dead  blank 
absence  created  then. 

The  winds  of  San  Francisco  had  renewed 
the  trouble  with  my  lungs,  and  we  went 
down  by  steamer  to  Monterey,  where  there 
was  a  very  different  climate.  Bayard  Tay- 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   103 

lor  has  celebrated  the  noble  pine-trees  that 
border  the  Pacific  here. 

There  was  none  of  the  stir  and  life  here 
which  made  San  Francisco  so  remarkable. 
There  was  a  small  garrison  of  married  offi 
cers  with  their  families,  but  no  man  of  any 
degree  voluntarily  kept  away  from  the  mines 
or  San  Francisco ;  it  was  their  great  oppor 
tunity  for  sudden  money-making.  Domes 
tic  matters  were  even  more  upset  than  in 
San  Francisco,  where  Chinese  could  be  had. 
Here  it  was  like  after  a  shipwreck  on  a  des 
ert  shore;  the  strongest  and  the  most  ca 
pable  was  king,  and,  to  produce  anything 
like  comfort,  all  capacities  had  to  be  put 
to  use.  The  major-general  in  command  of 
the  post,  General  Riley,  was  his  own  gar 
dener.  He  came  to  me,  proud  and  trium 
phant,  with  a  small  market -basket  on  his 
arm,  containing  vegetables  of  his  own  rais 
ing.  And  as  we  would  bring  roses  of  our 
cultivation,  so  he  brought  me  a  present  of 
a  cabbage,  some  carrots,  and  parsley. 

The  French  ships  brought  cargoes  of 
everything  that  could  be  sealed  up  in  tin 
cans  and  glass,  but  the  stomach  grows  very 


104   A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

weary  of  this  sort  of  food.  It  was  barely  a 
year  since  the  gold  had  been  discovered,  but 
in  that  time  every  eatable  thing  had  been 
eaten  off  the  face  of  the  country,  and  noth 
ing  raised.  I  suppose  there  was  not  a  fowl 
left  in  the  northern  part  of  the  state,  conse 
quently  not  an  egg ;  all  the  beef  cattle  left 
had  been  bought  up  by  "  Baron"  Steinber- 
ger  in  San  Francisco ;  there  were  no  lon 
ger  vaqueros  or  herdsmen,  and  flocks  and 
herds  had  dispersed. 

There  were  no  cows,  consequently  no 
milk.  Housekeeping,  deprived  of  milk, 
eggs,  vegetables,  and  fresh  meat,  becomes 
a  puzzle ;  canned  meat,  macaroni,  rice,  and 
ham  become  unendurable  from  repetition. 
There  were  only  the  half-domesticated  In 
dians  as  servants — poor  cooks  at  best ;  and 
while  wood  was  abundant  around  here,  there 
was  no  one  to  cut  it.  Mrs.  Canby,  wife  of 
one  of  the  officers,  was  fortunate  in  having 
an  attached  as  well  as  capable  servant,  a 
Mexican  mulatto  who  had  been  with  Gen 
eral  Canby  through  the  Mexican  war,  and 
who  remained  with  them  against  all  temp 
tations.  This  man  was  a  very  capable  baker, 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   105 

and  until  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  chance 
upon  a  cook,  Mrs.  Canby  sent  me  daily  a  fra 
grant  loaf  of  fresh  bread,  wrapped  in  its  clean 
napkin  and  on  a  beautiful  china  plate.  Nor 
was  I  the  only  one  who  felt  the  great  kind 
ness  of  this  lady ;  she  was  kind  and  thought 
ful  for  all — the  children  of  the  soldiers,  any 
one;  wherever  she  could  give  help,  she  did 
so. 

General  Canby  was  one  of  those  modest 
officers  whose  promotion  fell  behind  his 
merits.  My  father  was  for  twenty -eight 
years  chairman  of  the  Senate  Military  Com 
mittee,  and  while  the  Secretary  of  War 
changed  with  the  changing  political  fort 
unes  of  the  day,  he  remained  fixed,  the 
comprehending  and  thorough  friend  of  the 
army.  Understanding  army  interests,  and 
having  his  friendships  with  officers,  he  was 
its  intelligent  and  useful  friend.  I  think 
it  is  to  him  that  is  due  the  longevity  ra 
tion.  When,  my  voyage  over  and  myself 
safe  back  at  home,  I  told  of  this  among  the 
many  other  kindnesses  shown  to  me,  my  fa 
ther  quietly  looked  up  General  (then  Major) 
Canby's  position,  had  him  written  to,  and 


106   A  TEAR  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

the  result  was  promotion  and  a  more  con 
genial  post.  Both  himself  and  his  wife  were 
so  good  and  gentle,  and  thorough  in  their 
kindness  to  others,  that  it  seemed  unnatural 
he  should  meet  a  cruel  death. 

Monterey  was  quite  a  town,  with  many 
good  houses.  Their  adobe  walls  looked  like 
rough  stone,  while  the  red-tiled  roofs  gave 
color  and  picturesqueness — the  finer  houses 
built  with  a  disregard  of  space,  a  long  front 
to  the  street,  and  short  wings  running  back 
at  either  end,  while  the  remainder  of  the 
square  was  a  large  garden,  shut  in  by  high 
adobe  walls  with  a  coping  of  red  tiles. 

Travel  teaches  one  that  there  is  nothing 
new  under  the  sun.  In  all  the  different 
countries  in  which  I  have  been,  and  in 
all  grades  of  society,  everywhere  I  have 
seen  certain  characteristics  inevitably  re 
peated.  There  are  women  in  all  classes 
upon  whom  every  advantage  is  thrown 
away ;  while  there  are  as  certainly  to  be 
met  with  in  every  grade  women  who  seem 
to  have  a  creative  faculty  for  embellishing 
life ;  they  seem  to  have  the  power  of  not 


A   YEAR   OF   AMERICAN   TRAVEL.       107 

only  using  to  the  best  advantage  what  they 
have,  but  even  to  create  resources  about 
them.  I  could  see  this  even  in  the  village 
of  Digger  Indians  who  were  rny  nearest 
neighbors  on  the  Mariposas;  one  woman 
would  have  her  baby  in  a  frightful  condi 
tion  of  dirt,  the  coarse  black  hair  matted 
into  its  eyelashes;  while  another  would 
have  hers  clean,  and  hung  about  with  neck 
lace  and  decorations  of  bits  of  polished 
bone,  beads,  ends  of  red  tape,  even  wax  seals 
which  she  had  cut  from  envelopes  thrown 
away,  while  her  shock  of  black  hair  was 
comparatively  tidy  and  in  some  order.  This 
difference  of  capacity  was  eminently  notice 
able  at  this  time  in  California,  where  all 
usual  surroundings  were  not  to  be  had. 

Among  the  California  ladies  were  some 
married  to  Americans,  and  they  came  at 
once  to  see  me ;  others,  who  were  thorough 
ly  Californian,  and  to  whom  my  name  rep 
resented  only  invasion  and  defeat,  did  not 
come  at  first,  but  after  a  little  were  among 
the  kindest  people  I  knew  there.  The  only 
cow  in  the  town  belonged  to  one  of  these, 
and  she  sent  me  daily  a  portion  of  the  milk, 


108   A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

because  I  too  had  a  little  child.  They  had 
very  much  the  life  of  our  Southern  people ; 
their  household,  their  children,  their  domes 
tic  surroundings,  filled  their  days  busily  and 
contentedly.  Their  houses  were  charming 
ly  neat  and  orderly,  and  when  I  made  a  vis 
it  I  generally  found  the  lady  of  the  house 
sitting  in  the  inner  court,  shaded  by  the 
projecting  roof,  and  surrounded  by  domes 
ticated  Indian  girls  at  their  sewing. 

They  seemed  to  have  the  passion  of  Hol 
landers  for  the  accumulation  of  household 
linen;  also  for  satin  dresses,  which  they 
bought  in  number,  and  had  made  up  with 
out  any  reference  to  style  or  fashion,  and 
packed  them  away  in  huge  Chinese  trunks. 
These  trunks  were  painted  bright  reds, 
greens,  and  yellows,  with  well  -  executed 
wreaths  of  flowers  upon  them,  and  were 
kept  as  ornamental  pieces  of  furniture  in 
the  sitting-rooms,  along  with  French  clocks, 
no  end  of  chandeliers,  and  other  handsome 
things.  Pictures  of  church  subjects  and 
English  hunting  -  scenes  were  to  be  met 
everywhere. 

In  making  a  visit,  one  of  the  first  atten- 


A  YEAR,  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   109 

tions  was  to  hand  you  the  cigarette,  both 
made  and  unmade,  in  order  that  you  might 
"  consult  your  habit."  This  part  of  the  en 
tertainment  was  a  failure  with  me,  and  I 
had  always  to  explain  that  I  inherited  an  in 
ability  even  to  endure  the  smell  of  tobacco. 

As  we  show  a  photographic  album,  they 
would  open  these  huge  trunks  and  show  the 
satin  dresses.  The  Fourth  of  July  made  the 
occasion  for  a  grand  ball ;  there  were  some 
Californians  in  town,  and  there  was  a  man- 
of-war,  and  the  post  furnished  some  dancing 
men,  among  them  a  long  thin  young  Cap 
tain,  since  General,  Sherman. 

The  dressing  for  this  ball  was  a  serious 
matter  to  these  native  California!!  ladies. 
They  had  already  all  these  expensive  gowns, 
but  they  wished  something  absolutely  new 
and  in  our  fashion — as  they  expressed  it, 
"  as  they  wore  them  in  the  States."  An 
American  who  had  lived  there  many  years 
asked  me  to  show  her  "  in  strict  confidence" 
my  ball  dresses ;  she  did  not  believe  me 
when  I  told  her  I  had  none  with  me ;  she 
said  that  she  would  show  them  to  no  one 
else,  that  only  her  dress-maker  and  herself 


110       A   YEAK   OF   AMEKICAN   TKAVEL. 

should  see  them  (the  dress-maker  was  the 
wife  of  a  corporal).  I  could  not  convince 
her  that  it  was  not  unwillingness  on  rny 
part  to  share  "  the  fashions  "  with  her ;  she 
looked  upon  it  as  an  excuse.  When  I  said 
"  really  I  had  no  evening  dresses  with  me," 
she  broke  out  with  "  What  have  you  got  in 
all  those  trunks,  then,  for  I  know  you  have 
many  trunks  ?"  I  told  her  to  come  and  see, 
and  insisted  that  she  should  look.  When 
she  saw  only  morning  and  walking  dresses 
and  under-wear,  she  exclaimed,  as  though 
it  had  dawned  upon  her  that  I  wras  a  sort  of 
social  impostor :  "  Why,  you  was  pore  when 
you  left  the  States !  Why,  I  have  thirty- 
seven  satin  dresses,  and  no  two  off  the  same 
piece." 

The  evening  of  the  ball  wTas  to  disclose 
the  secret  of  the  toilets  of  the  native  ladies; 
each  had  had  a  new  dress  that  was  to  be  a 
surprise  to  the  others;  the  merchant  who 
sold  the  goods  and  the  dress-maker  who 
made  them  were  each  pledged  to  let  no  one 
know  about  the  others'  dress.  When  the 
company  assembled,  eight  of  these  ladies 
had  gowns  exactly  alike:  a  cafe  au  lait 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   Ill 

Chinese  satin,  with  a  large  pattern  on  it, 
making  the  effect  of  what  we  use  for  furni 
ture  covering.  On  no  account  would  they 
have  worn  a  low-necked  and  short-sleeved 
dress ;  so  while  the  sleeves  were  long,  the 
corsage  was  completely  covered  by  a  large 
Madras  silk  handkerchief,  pinned  down 
Quaker  fashion. 

The  largest  and  best  building  in  the  town 
was  the  Governor's  residence ;  it  occupied 
double  the  usual  space,  and  was  really  a 
good  building,  with  very  thick  walls,  and 
a  charming  great  garden,  surrounded  by  a 
hed<re  of  roses.  I  was  fortunate  to  have 

C3 

one  wing  of  this,  where  I  made  my  first 
housekeeping.  The  large  window  of  one 
room  looked  into  the  bay,  with  its  great 
crescent-shaped  sweep  towards  Santa  Cruz ; 
the  boom  of  its  long  rollers  was  with  me  all 
the  time.  For  furniture  we  had  what  could 
be  gathered  in  San  Francisco  and  shipped 
down  by  steamer.  Beautiful  Chinese  mat 
ting  of  varied  colors,  whole  pieces  of  French 
and  Chinese  furniture  damask,  and  Chinese 
bamboo  furniture.  An  exquisite  circular 
table  of  carved  and  inlaid  work  made  a 


112   A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

dining-table,  and  we  had  beautiful  Chinese, 
French,  and  English  china.  There  was  no 
toilet  china,  but  a  punch-bowl  makes  a  good 
basin ;  the  best  wax  candles,  but  flat  tin 
candlesticks.  We  had  one  great  luxury,  a 
large  fire-place  for  a  wood  fire,  but  no  shovel, 
tongs,  or  andirons,  and  no  wood  to  be  had 
for  money.  Here  friendship  stepped  in,,  and 
supplied  me  bountifully  with  wood  of  the 
right  kind  and  cut  in  the  right  way,  for  the 
government  teamsters  were  ordered  to  sup 
ply  me  as  they  did  the  ladies  of  the  Post. 
I  had  no  servant  at  all.  A  woman  with  a 
baby  in  her  arms  came  to  the  open  door 
one  day,  and  asked  me  if  I  wanted  a  cook ; 
on  being  told  that  I  did  indeed,  she  asked, 
"  Would  you  take  one  from  Sydney  ?  Be 
cause  I  am  from  Sydney,  and  am  off  the  ship 
that  came  in  yesterday."  She  was  under 
the  influence  of  some  hurt  feeling,  and  went 
on :  "  I  have  been  to  the  General's  and  to 
the  Consul's,  and  they  would  not  have  me 
because  I  was  from  Sydney  and  on  that 
ship.  Why  are  you  not,  too,  afraid  to  take 
me?"  I  said,  "Because  your  baby  is  so 
clean,  so  well-kept,  and  looks  so  well"  (a 


A  YEAR  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   113 

child  eighteen  months  old) ;  "  he  answers 
for  it  that  you  are  clean,  patient,  and  kind." 
"  You  will  not  repent  taking  nie,"  the  wom 
an  said.  And  I  never  did.  She  went  into 
place  at  once,  and  made  me  wonderfully 
comfortable  as  long  as  I  remained.  She 
was  a  thoroughly  trained  English  servant, 
who  had  lived  in  Australia  with  the  wife  of 
the  Chief-Justice.  She  had  all  her  creden 
tials,  and  deserved  them. 

This  need  of  a  cook  had  been  provided 
for  in  a  man  who  had  already  travelled  with 
Mr.  Fremont,  and  who  had  come  with  him 
again  this  time.  He  had  been  cook  on  a 
man-of-war,  and  we  knew  him  and  all  his 
people,  most  respectable  colored  people  in 
Washington.  With  him,  and  my  own  wom 
an  Harriot,  I  had  the  nucleus  of  a  good 
household.  The  mission  Indians  made  good 
women-servants,  as  Mr.  Frgmont  had  seen  in 
the  many  California  households  with  which 
he  had  been  familiar,  so  we  had  never  fore 
seen  any  trouble  on  this  account.  In  fact,  I 
had  grown  up  to  such  a  fixed  order  of  things 
in  all  domestic  arrangements  that  ideas  of 
this  kind  had  never  come  to  my  mind.  But 
8 


114   A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

I  lost  nay  Harriot  in  New  York  in  the  way  I 
have  told,  and  Saunders  was  in  the  mines. 
Although  a  free  man  himself,  his  wife  and 
children  were  slaves,  because  of  the  law 
that  children  of  a  slave  mother  were  also 
slaves.  He  had  now  the  opportunity  of 
making  quickly  the  money  with  which  to 
buy  their  freedom.  He  had  been  offered 
"the  lot"  for  seventeen  hundred  dollars, 
and  Mr.  Fremont  equipped  him  and  sent 
him  off  to  our  mines,  on  their  first  arrival 
at  San  Francisco,  to  gather  this.  He  really 
did  not  like  to  leave  me,  but  we  would  not 
have  allowed  him  to  stay  under  such  cir 
cumstances. 

Up  to  a  certain  point  everything  seemed 
to  be  against  us.  Then  the  tide  turned,  and 
it  was  indeed  a  flood  of  good  fortune.  When 
we  left  home  it  was  on  the.  plan  of  a  seven 
years'  absence,  amounting  to  exile  ;  into  an 
unknown  country,  without  mail  communi 
cations  ;  and  upon  the  slow  process  of  the 
increase  of  flocks  and  herds  was  based  the 
possibility  of  a  journey  back  to  revisit  my 
people.  The  gold  discoveries  made  rapid 


A  YEAR   OF   AMERICAN  TRAVEL.       115 

the  advance  in  travel  and  mail  facilities 
which  would  otherwise  have  been  of  grad 
ual,  slow  growth. 

General  Taylor  was  at  this  time  Presi 
dent.  His  was  a  direct,  brave,  and  single 
nature.  What  he  thought  just  and  right  he 
did,  irrespective  of  usage  or  politics.  His 
brother,  Colonel  Taylor,  had  been  upon  the 
court-martial  which  made  the  decision  upon 
which  Mr.  Fremont  refused  the  promotion 
given  him,  and  resigned  from  the  army. 

Colonel  Taylor  was  one  of  the  four  offi 
cers  who  said  that  the  oldest  officer  in  the 
army  would  have  been  puzzled  how  to  act 
upon  the  question  which  Mr.  Frgmont  had 
been  called  upon  by  his  superior  officers  to 
decide  for  them — the  question  of  the  rel 
ative  rank  between  a  commodore  and  a 
general. 

Quite  without  my  father's  knowledge,  the 
President  offered  to  Mr.  Fremont  a  govern 
ment  employment  of  dignity,  and  one  for 
which  his  past  life  had  fitted  him — the  place 
of  Commissioner  for  the  United  States  to  run 
the  boundary  line  with  Mexico  under  the 
Treaty  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo.  This,  the 


116   A  TEAK  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

President  told  my  father,  was  intended  to 
express  his  personal  feeling  in  regard  to 
that  harsh  finding  of  the  military  court. 

As  may  be  imagined,  the  arrival  of  the 
mail  was  the  event  to  all.  This  was  among 
the  things  we  learned  by  the  first  mail  that 
reached  us  after  my  arrival.  Mr.  Beale,  a 
young  naval  officer,  was  sent  out  with  spe 
cial  despatches  from  the  government,  and 
was  also  given  this  commission  to  bring  to 
Mr.  FrSinont.  We  thought  we  had  nothing 
more  to  ask  of  fate  when  we  found  that  we 
too  had  our  proportion  in  the  great  stream 
of  wealth,  which  meant  for  us  independence, 
and  its  first  use  the  return  home ;  but  this 
unlooked-for  and  gracious  act  of  justice 
crowned  our  content. 

My  father  wTas  especially  touched  by  it. 
Apart  from  personal  gratification,  he  had 
been  too  long  a  leader  in  the  triumphant 
and  fierce  Democratic  party  not  to  feel  the 
full  value  of  this  unlooked-for  giving  of  a 
high  post  outside  of  the  President's  party. 
The  commission  sent  in  such  a  way  had  to 
be  accepted  for  a  time  at  least ;  but  as  it 
would  have  involved  some  years  of  stay  out 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   117 

there,  there  was  no  hesitation  about  not 
holding  it.  Our  new  independence  was 
too  complete  and  too  sweet  to  be  given  up 
for  any  cause.  That  long  white  envelope, 
with  its  official  stamp  in  the  corner,  which 
brings  such  terror  into  officers'  families,  and 
sounds  the  note  of  separation  to  so  many, 
was  not  again  to  come  to  us ;  henceforth  we 
were  to  direct  our  own  movements.  That 
was  what  we  proposed. 

Mr.  Beale  was  from  Washington,  and  a 
young  favorite  of  my  father's.  He,  too,  had 
had  his  part  in  the  early  California  con 
quest.  For  the  few  months  he  remained 
on  that  coast  he  made  part  of  our  little 
household.  With  a  friendly  captain  (also 
from  Washington),  and  really  no  service  to 
be  done,  as  his  ship  lay  at  anchor  in  the 
bay,  renewed  leaves  of  absence  were  very 
easy  to  get. 

All  our  plans  had  been  made  before  the 
discovery  of  gold.  We  had  expected  to  live 
the  usual  life  of  people  going  to  a  new  coun 
try,  and  had  sent  round  all  manner  of  useful 
things,  from  a  circular  saw  to  a  travelling 
carriage.  All  these,  except  the  latter,  were 


118   A  YEAR  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

stored  in  the  company's  warerooms  in  San 
Francisco. 

"While  the  fine  weather  lasted  I  travelled 
wherever  wheels  could  go,  and  lived  night 
and  day  in  this  carriage.  Mr.  Aspinwall 
had  it  built  under  his  own  directions  in 
New  Jersey,  and  a  sliding  bottom  to  the 
seats  and  double  cushions  made  an  excel 
lent  sleeping-place.  We  had  this  and  dou 
ble  and  single  harness  in  quantity,  but  no 
horses,  no  one  to  drive,  and  no  made  roads 
to  drive  upon;  we  just  followed  bridle 
paths  among  the  trees,  and  where  the 
ground  was  very  sloping  the  Indian  men 
put  their  "riatas"  around  the  carriage,  keep 
ing  it  up  until  we  came  to  level  ground 
again.  Mine  was  the  first  carriage  that  had 
ever  been  in  the  country,  and  horses  had 
not  been  used  in  harness  there.  Low-hung 
wagons  with  solid  wooden  wheels,  drawn 
by  oxen,  made  the  transportation  for  ladies 
who  wished  to  go  by  wheel — carretas,  they 
called  them.  Our  experiences  in  gathering 
a  team  were  unusual  and  rather  trying  to  a 
woman's  nerves ;  an  Oregon  mare,  warrant 
ed  gentle,  was  harnessed  in  with  a  .rather 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   119 

old  California  riding-horse,  which  was  sup 
posed  to  be  tamed  by  time  and  work.  Mr. 
Beale,  who  had  in  him  the  traditions  of 
his  boyhood  in  Maryland,  and  the  remem 
brance  of  reins  handled  there,  felt  sure  that 
he  could  drill  these  into  an  efficient  pair 
of  carriage-horses  :  he  was  very  strong,  and 
he  had  that  confidence  in  himself  which 
belongs  under  twenty-five.  I  wonder  now, 
when  I  remember,  that  I  got  into  that  car 
riage  wTith  those  horses.  The  Oregon  mare 
rose  straight  on  her  hind-legs,  while  the  Cal 
ifornia  horse,  slower  to  understand,  stood 
quiet  for  a  little,  and  then  commenced  the 
favorite  local  habit  of  "  bucking."  And 
this  they  kept  to,  getting  frightened  and 
obstinate.  I  too  was  frightened,  and  beg 
ged  for  mules,  which  we  tried.  There  were 
only  pack-mules,  and  these  considered  har 
ness  as  an  unpleasant  pack,  and  tried  to 
rub  it  off  against  every  object — trees  and 
whatever  offered  them  a  surface  to  rub 
against.  I  do  not  know  what  we  should 
have  done,  but  we  came  upon  a  camp  of 
Texans  who  had  just  arrived,  and  were  a 
short  distance  out  of  Monterey;  they  had 


120   A  YEAH  OF  AMEKICAN  TRAVEL. 

with,  them  a  number  of  fine-looking  mules, 
which  Mr.  Fremont  found  had  been  used 
in  wagons,  and  he  tried,  at  first  quite  in 
vain,  to  buy  some  of  these  for  rne.  They 
were  men  of  means,  "  liked  their  animals, 
and  had  no  reason  to  part  with  them."  I 
caught  the  name  of  one  of  the  party  as 
they  spoke  to  each  other,  and  told  Mr.  Fr6- 
mont  to  ask  him  if  his  mother  was  not  from 
North  Carolina,  and  if  her  name  was  not 
Caroline ;  the  young  man  came  up  to  the 
side  of  my  carriage,  very  much  astonish 
ed,  and  we  found  he  was  the  grandson  of 
old  friends  of  my  father's  ;  so  I  had  again, 
through  friendship,  what  money  alone 
could  not  have  bought  me  —  a  comforta 
ble  pair  of  harness  mules.  They  were  mis 
matched  in  size ;  the  larger  was  white,  slow, 
and  a  very  patient  creature ;  wre  named  him 
Job ;  while  his  companion,  which  was  small 
enough  to  deserve  the  name  of  Picayune, 
was  a  brisk  little  animal  that  made  up  in 
work  and  nerve  force  for  lack  of  size. 

Mr.  Fremont  had  with  him  two  of  the 
better  class  of  Mission  Indians,  who  had 
been  with  him  for  years,  coming  and  going 


A  YEAR   OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.       121 

between  the  United  States  and  California. 
These  men,  Juan  and  Gregorio,  were  the 
most  graceful  horsemen  I  have  ever  seen, 
even  in  their  country  of  graceful  horsemen. 
When  we  came  to  a  good  bit  of  open  coun 
try,  and  could  go  at  speed,  they  would  fast 
en  to  the  carriage  the  long  riatas,  which 
were  always  carried  at  the  saddle-bow,  and 
in  this  way  I  would  have  two  postilions 
riding  abreast  in  front  of  my  mules.  The 
men  wore  the  old  picturesque  California 
dress,  and  their  regular  rhythmed  move 
ment  as  they  moved  gracefully  with  their 
horses  made  it  a  picture  I  always  loved  to 
watch.  How  I  enjoyed  that  out-door  life ! 
In  this  way  we  w^ent  from  Monterey  to  San 
Francisco  and  back  again  from  San  Fran 
cisco  to  Monterey,  stopping  at  different  ran- 
chos  and  farms  to  see  and  be  seen  by  the 
people  who  wished  Mr.  Fremont  to  bring 
me  to  them.  We  would  turn  out  of  our  way 
to  accept  the  invitation  of  some  of  the  old 
Californians  to  visit  them  at  their  ranches. 
At  one  of  these  we  came  to  where  the 
whole  family  connection  had  assembled  to 
meet  me.  Families  of  fourteen,  eighteen, 


122   A  TEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

even  to  twenty,  children  were  not  uncom 
mon.  And  one  Madame  Castro  had  twen 
ty-six  children,  nearly  all  sous.  At  this 
rancho,  which  belonged  to  one  of  the  many 
Castros,  they  had  collected  in  force,  the 
married  members  coming  in  also,  while  the 
grandmother  was  the  one  to  bid  me  wel 
come.  There  was  nothing  about  these  homes 
or  people  to  remind  us  that  we  were  in  a  new 
country,  nor  was  anything  lacking  to  com 
fort  and  well- being.  The  buildings  were 
spacious  and  beautifully  clean,  while  the 
physical  advantages  of  the  people  were  be 
yond  doubt.  The  old  lacly,  though  herself 
past  eighty,  was  like  the  portraits  of  Cath 
erine  of  Russia.  Her  thick  snow-white  hair 
was  turned  back  in  a  natural  cushion  upon 
her  head,  while  her  bright  eyes,  fine  teeth, 
and  clear  color  belonged  to  youth. 

It  was  very  agreeable  to  me  to  make  these 
visits.  They  had  learned  that  my  father 
understood  and  protected  the  new  citizens 
of  the  United  States  in  Louisiana  and  Flor 
ida,  and  that  they  could  rely  upon  him  as 
a  friend  at  the  seat  of  government ;  and  al 
ready  there  was  sufficient  evidence  that  the 


A  YEAR   OP  AMERICAN   TRAVEL.       123 

Americans  who  were  coining  in  were  to  be 
the  source  of  great  trouble  to  them.  They 
would  also  tell  me  of  their  gratitude  to  Mr. 
Fremont  —  "Don  Flemon,"  as  they  called 
him1 — for  having  protected  them  from  all 
rudeness  or  unnecessary  loss  of  any  kind 
during  the  progress  of  his  battalion  through 
the  state  when  it  passed  from  their  owner 
ship  to  ours.  Our  own  war  has  taught  us 
there  was  a  difference  in  commanding  offi 
cers  in  that  respect. 

As  Mr.  Fremont  neared  California  he  met 
a  large  party  of  Sonorians,  some  twelve 
hundred,  including  women  and  children, 
who  were  going  up  into  California  to  the 
mines;  from  these  he  first  knew  of  the 
discoveries  of  gold.  The  American  crowds 
pouring  in  looked  very  unfavorably  upon 
these  as  Mexicans,  and  resented  any  nation 
but  ours  having  the  good  of  the  gold.  Mr. 
Fremont  joined  his  little  party  to  theirs 
to  protect  them  from  this  feeling,  and  ar 
ranged  with  them  to  work  upon  his  lands 
at  the  Mariposas,  from  which  they  could  not 
be  driven  off,  as  it  was  private  property  :  he 
knew  the  gold  must  be  found  there  as  well 


124      A  YEAR   OF  AMERICAN   TRAVEL. 

as  farther  north  in  the  same  mountain 
range.  The  Sonorians  were  accustomed  to 
mining  -  work,  particularly  gold  -  washings, 
and  he  arranged  that  they  should  work  for 
him,  giving  the  lands  and  the  protection, 
and  they  giving  him  half  the  results.  Al 
ready  we  had  had  the  astonishment  and 
pleasure  of  receiving  buckskin  bags  filled 
with  gold-dust  and  lumps  of  gold  as  an  in 
stalment  on  this  arrangement.  I  remember 
the  first  came  to  us  at  San  Jos6,  where  we 
had  stopped  over.  Our  means  and  our  sur 
roundings  were  in  sharp  contrast.  It  was 
good  fortune  to  get  even  one  room  in  a 
house,  and  I  had  one  room  pour  tout  par- 
tage,  but  I  had  learned  by  this  time  that  it 
was  great  good  luck  to  have  a  whole  room. 
One  bedstead  and  one  table  made  the  fur 
niture,  each  the  simplest  and  crudest  con 
struction  of  rough  wood ;  the  bed  was  at 
least  clean,  as  it  was  fresh  straw  sewed  up 
in  clean  cotton  cloth.  I  had  my  large  grass 
hammock,  which  not  only  made  a  sleeping- 
place  at  night,  but  in  the  morning  it  was 
triced  up  higher,  while  Mr.  Fremont  and 
our  midshipman  coachman,  with  their  high 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.       125 

boots  drawn  outside  of  their  trousers,  del 
uged  the  room  with  hot  water  to  put  an 
end  to  that  day's  supply  of  fleas. 

Our  food,  such  as  it  was,  was  supplied  by 
a  man  who  kept  a  restaurant  in  the  town, 
and  who,  having  once  been  cook  on  a  whal 
er,  considered  himself  equal  to  any  occasion. 

We  were  at  this  place  when  our  first 
convoy  of  gold  reached  us.  The  buckskin 
bags,  containing  about  a  hundred  pounds 
of  gold,  were  put  for  safety  under  the  straw 
mattress.  There  were  no  banks  nor  places 
of  deposit  of  any  kind.  You  had  to  trust 
some  man  that  you  knew,  or  keep  guard 
yourself.  We  sent  this  back  to  Monterey, 
and  it  accumulated  in  trunks  in  our  rooms 
there. 

When  jthose  Sonora  people  wanted  to  go 
back  to  their  country,  at  the  end  of  some 
months,  they  sent  one  of  their  number  to 
say  to  Mr.  Fremont  that  they  were  going, 
and  that  their  share  came  to  a  certain 
amount.  We  were  in  San  Francisco  then, 
and  it  was  not  convenient  for  Mr.  Fremont 
to  go  back  to  Monterey,  so  he  sent  them  the 
keys  of  our  rooms  and  of  the  trunks,  leav- 


126   A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

ing  it  to  them  to  make  the  division.  This 
they  did  with  scrupulous  honor,  not  taking 
an  ounce  more  than  their  stipulated  portion. 

Sydney  Smith  tells  of  a  merchant  who 
bought  a  lottery  ticket  for  himself  and  one 
for  a  friend,  and,  marking  on  them  their 
names,  put  them  by  in  a  drawer  without 
further  thought.  Some  time  after,  he  saw 
that  one  of  these  numbers  had  drawn  a 
great  prize,  and  going  to  look,  found  that 
it  was  his  friend's  ticket,  and  turned  over 
to  his  friend  the  prize. 

Sydney  Smith  said  he  never  thought  of 
this  without  feeling  an  emotion  of  grati 
tude  and  pride  that  such  an  act  could  be 
done.  I  think  that  our  Sonorians  take 
rank  with  the  London  merchant. 

We  were  in  the  most  delightful  season  of 
the  year ;  no  rains,  no  heavy  dews ;  the  wild 
oats  were  ripe,  and  gave  the  soft  look  of 
ripe  wheat-fields  to  all  the  hill-sides;  the 
wild  cattle  were  feeding  about  or  resting 
under  the  evergreen  oaks,  which  looked  so 
like  orchard  trees  that  one  was  disappoint 
ed  not  to  find  the  apples  on  the  ground  be- 


A  YEAR   OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.       127 

neatli  them  ;  the  sky  was  a  deep  blue,  with 
out  a  cloud.  We  were  young  and  full  of 
health,  and  in  all  the  exhilaration  of  sudden 
wealth  which  could  enable  us  to  realize  our 
greatest  wishes.  The  continued  life  in  the 
open  air  night  and  day  in  this  balmy  cli 
mate  completely  healed  my  lungs.  Mr.  Fre"- 
mont  knew  the  country  thoroughly  well, 
and  we  made  our  camp  each  evening  at 
some  place  where  he  was  sure  of  good  wa 
ter,  as  well  as  trees  and  a  good  view.  I 
am  very  sorry  that  in  the  burning  of  my 
father's  house  all  my  letters  home  at  this 
time  were  lost  with  everything  else :  one 
cannot  give  afterwards  the  freshness  ol 
impression  that  belongs  with  the  actual 
day's  experience.  But  I  was  charmed  with 
every  detail  of  my  camping  -  life.  To  be 
sure,  it  was  in  an  unusual  form,  with  most 
unusual  people,  in  a  most  unusual  coun 
try  and  climate. 

Knight,  one  of  Mr.  Fremont's  old  guides 
— a  man  almost  the  equal  of  Carson  in  fine 
qualities — came  down  from  his  ranch  to  see 
him  again,  and  we  took  to  each  other  so 
kindly  that  it  was  nearly  two  months  before 


128      A   YEAR   OF   AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

he  left  us.  Like  Captain  Tucker,  he  had 
thought  I  would  prove  "  a  fine  lady,"  and 
unable  to  live  in  an  unusual  way ;  but  he 
too  gave  rne  his  hearty  approval. 

These,  with  myself  and  my  little  girl, 
made  the  party.  We  had  the  two  Indian 
men,  Juan  and  Gregorio,  who  knew  exactly 
what  to  do,  as  they  had  crossed  and  recross- 
ed  the  continent  with  Mr.  Fr6mont.  They 
were  Indians,  but  they  were  men,  and  the 
presence  of  a  lady  in  the  camp  kept  them 
all  the  time  in  their  best  clothes  and  best 
behavior.  The  old  California  dress  was 
very  like  that  that  we  know  in  Spanish 
pictures,  and  made  them  look  like  figures 
out  of  the  scene  of  an  opera.  They  rode 
well  ahead,  following  Mr.  Frgmont ;  then 
came  the  carriage,  all  its  curtains  rolled 
up,  freighted  with  youth  and  health  and 
happiness  and  hopefulness;  after  us,  at  a 
little  distance,  was  our  baggage  train  —  a 
string  of  mules  packed  with  our  cooking 
apparatus,  our  grass  hammocks,  and  such 
clothes  as  we  could  pack  in  those  square 
leather  panniers  which  the  Spaniards  call 
alforjas. 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   125 

Mr.  Fremont  and  Mr.  Knight  —  "Old 
Knight"  every  one  called  him — rode  ahead, 
looking  out  the  best  road  for  the  carriage,  or 
going  back  to  ride  beside  it.  We  used  to 
make  a  very  early  start.  My  early  cup  of  tea 
was  brought  to  the  carriage  to  me  at  dawn. 
We  always  camped  by  the  side  of  a  brook, 
and  a  dressing-tent  was  quickly  made  for 
me  with  a  pair  of  blankets;  I  had  a  tin  ba 
sin,  plenty  of  towels,  plenty  of  French  soap 
and  Cologne-water,  and  running  water  in 
plenty.  Diana  never  had  such  advantages. 
We  were  usually  on  our  way  as  the  sun  rose, 
and  we  travelled  along,  very  often  at  a  good 
gait,  until  eleven,  when  we  always  stopped 
for  the  long  noon  halt.  Then  was  our  break 
fast,  and  this  we  made  exceedingly  good, 
notwithstanding  the  scarcity  of  fresh  pro 
visions  in  the  country.  "An  army  travels 
on  its  stomach."  Many  years  of  camping 
experience  taught  our  chief  how  to  pro 
vide  for  this.  From  the  ranches  we  pass 
ed  near  wTould  be  procured  half  a  sheep 
and  green  corn,  some  of  the  large  Spanish 
onions,  and  such  vegetables  as  could  be  had, 
and  always  an  abundance  of  sweet  red  pep- 
9 


130       A  YEAR   OF   AMERICAN   TRAVEL. 

per;  of  these  the  guisada  of  the  country 
•would  be  made,  which  answers  to  the  pot 
aufeu  of  the  French,  only  more  warmly  fla 
vored  with  this  pepper.  The  grass  ham 
mocks  would  be  spread  out  on  the  ground, 
on  them  the  morocco  carriage  cushions  piled 
into  a  good  seat  for  me.  My  share  of  the 
duty  was  to  take  the  result  of  all  the  others' 
preparations — to  eat  with  all  the  appetite 
I  could  gather,  to  grow  well,  and  be  happy. 
After  some  hours  of  rest  we  would  go  on, 
stopping  before  sundown  to  make  our  camp 
for  the  night.  This  was  always  well  chosen 
in  advance. 

Here  the  carriage  made  an  admirable 
sleeping-place  for  myself  and  my  little  girl, 
while  the  gentlemen  stretched  their  ham 
mocks  to  the  trees,  and  the  supper  wras  a 
duplicate  of  the  breakfast.  They  had  ex 
cellent  claret  and  coffee  and  tea,  and  the 
best  French  sweet  things  for  the  little  one. 
The  camp-fire  lit  up  the  whole  scene  with 
a  beauty  that  only  those  who  have  seen  it 
can  realize.  What  talks  we  had  around 
.those  camp-fires!  Knight  was  a  mighty 
hunter,  and  Mr.  Beale,  midshipman  as  he 


A  YEAR   OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.       131 

was,  had  the  same  vocation.  Each  of  the 
three  had  had  large  experience  of  a  kind 
only  known  to  me  through  books:  from 
Indians,  from  wild  animals,  and  from 
war ;  while  I  gave  the  element  of  society. 
About  nine  o'clock  all  would  be  still ; 
only  the  sounds  of  the  logs  and  boughs 
as  they  crackled  and  burned,  and  the 
steady  munching  of  the  animals  over  their 
feed,  with  occasionally  a  disturbance  from 
a  coyote  that  would  come  and  try  to  steal 
his  supper ;  but  a  coyote  is  only  a  little  wolf 
at  best,  and  though  they  would  stay  off  at  a 
little  distance  and  howl  and  bark,  yet  the 
noise  was  only  laughable,  not  like  that 
strange  howl  of  the  wolf  of  the  prairies : 
and  how  changed  the  circumstances ! 

I  was  left  at  San  .lose"  for  a  week  at  one 
time,  as  it  wras  found  that  each  visit  to  San 
Francisco  renewed  the  irritation  of  the 
lungs.  It  was  here  I  saw  something  of  the 
local  life  of  the  people.  Before  we  brought 
taxes  and  litigation  upon  them,  the  Califor- 
nians  were  a  wholesome  and  cheerful  people, 
going  about  their  pleasures  not  sadly,  as  is 


132      A  YEAH   OF   AMERICAN   TRAVEL. 

the  inherited  wont  of  our  nation,  but  mak 
ing  a  joyful  noise. 

I  found  in  their  folk-music  a  connecting 
link  between  themselves  and  the  Panama 
street  people  ;  in  the  swift  yet  plaintive  airs 
so  characteristic,  which  the  Spaniards  kept, 
together  with  many  other  things  belonging 
to  the  Moors— irrigation,  for  example,  which 
they  did  not  originate,  but  for  which  they 
get  credit. 

The  voices  of  the  Panama  street  people 
had  a  slow,  almost  melodious,  accent  that 
was  very  agreeable.  They  used  to  collect  on 
the  square  in  the  nights  and  sing,  accompa 
nied  by  a  sort  of  tambourine,  which  kept  up 
a  low  drumming  rhythmed  movement.  One 
air  and  some  of  its  words  I  heard  so  frequent 
ly  that  they  fixed  themselves  in  my  memory 
as  part  of  Panama,  evidently  of  Moorish 
origin,  coming  through  Spanish  channels 
across  to  this  people.  In  the  Tramata  Verdi 
has  introduced  a  Spanish  folk-song,  which 
is  the  polished  twin  of  my  Panama  street 
song.  I  only  know  the  words  of  one  verse, 
for  I  could  get  no  one  to  give  me  the  rest, 
the  servants  saying  that  it  was  not  for  a 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   133 

lady  to  know  the  words.*  (Evidently  there 
was  no  opera  T)ouffe  there-  to  educate  that 
public.)  It  is  a  minor  key,  and  its  abrupt 
turns  and  vague  unterniinated  effects  are 
eminently  Oriental. 

Even  the  educated  people  in  South  Amer 
ican  countries  drop  much  of  the  Castilian 
nicety  of  pronunciation,  giving  the  hard 
sound  to  the  d  and  c,  which  so  altered  the 
language  to  me  that  I  had  almost  to  acquire 
another  in  order  to  feel  at  home  with  the 
Spaniards  I  met  there.  In  addition  to  that, 
the  illiterate  people  drop  and  misplace  the 
8  exactly  as  a  London  cockney  does  the  h  ; 
for  example,  the  first  line  of  this  verse,  "  L 
los  frailes  no  me  quiere  confesar,"  they  give, 
"A  lo  fraile  no  me  quiere  confear."  This 
was  evidently  their  favorite  song,  to  which 
their  strongest  expression  of  excitement  fit 
ted  itself. 

The  night  the  two  steamers  got  in  to- 

*  "A  los  frailes  no  me  quiere  confesar, 
Porque  se  euojau  que  me  guste  bailar, 

Bailar ! 

Bailar ! 

Con  Francico,  mi  Francico, 
Fraucico  Cumana." 


134   A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

gether,  not  only  the  Americans  flocked  to 
the  ramparts,  but  the  whole  Indian  popu 
lation  were  out  in  the  bright  moonlight, 
and  the  sound  of  the  deep  rub-a-dub-dub 
and  that  constantly  recurring  chorus  of 
"Cumana!""Cumana!"  filled  the  air  until 
sunrise. 

Another  of  these  Moro-Spanish  airs,  not 
so  vivacious  or  clean  in  its  outlines,  had 
grafted  itself  among  the  Californians,  and 
had,  as  all  gypsy  music  has,  the  governing 
qualities  of  swiftness  and  sadness  com 
bined.  This  last  I  could  not  choose  but 
learn:  I  heard  it  whistled,  sung,  played 
upon  guitars  and  violins,  wherever  Cali 
fornians  were. 

During  this  time  I  was  in  San  JosS  I  saw 
in  perfection  the  good  riding  of  the  country. 
From  my  hammock,  swung  under  the  open 
gallery  of  the  house  where  we  were  fortu 
nate  enough  to  have  a  room,  I  heard  and 
saw  the  festivities  of  a  California  wedding. 
These  lasted  three  days.  It  was  a  wedding 
among  the  vaqueros,  and  attended,  there 
fore,  by  good  riders.  The  bride's  house  was 
not  much  of  a  building,  but  extensive  tern- 


A  YEAR  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   135 

porary  shelter  had  been  put  up  for  dancing- 
rooms,  covered  over  with  green  boughs — a 
ramada.  But  the  point  of  rivalry  among 
the  guests  was  more  in  riding  than  in  dan 
cing,  though  after  riding  all  day  they  would 
dance  all  night ;  and  all  day  and  all  night 
that  one  air  was  repeated  by  violins,  guitars, 
and  voices,  until  the  drone  of  it  got  into 
the  air,  and  made  as  much  part  of  it  as  does 
the  whir  of  locusts  in  the  autumn  months. 
The  first  day  the  procession  started  for  the 
church  where  the  marriage  was  to  take  place 
— to  go  down  and  along  the  Alameda,  a 
beautiful  double  avenue  of  willows,  three 
miles  in  length,  planted  by  the  early  fathers. 
The  first  day  was  to  go  to  the  church  for  the 
marriage  ceremonies;  the  second,  to  take 
out  the  bride  for  a  general  pasear  through 
the  town;  and  the  third,  a  series  of  con 
tests  and  rivalries  in  feats  of  horsemanship. 
There  were  about  five  hundred  horses  ;  the 
riders  were  more.  In  many  cases  they  had 
with  them  a  woman  mounted  on  the  horse ; 
the  woman  sat  on  the  man's  saddle,  while 
behind  her,  with  his  arm  around  her  waist, 
and  holding  the  reins,  sat  the  man — -just 


136   A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

the  reverse  of  our  country  habit.  They  ad 
vanced  in  regular  order,  eight  abreast,  the 
musicians,  also  on  horseback,  playing  their 
violins  and  guitars  as  calmly  as  though  they 
had  a  floor  under  them.  The  bride  sat  alone 
on  her  horse,  under  an  arch  of  flowers  and 
ribbons,  which  was  carried  by  a  groomsman 
on  either  side,  the  ends  of  the  arch  resting 
on  their  saddles,  and  on  either  side  of  them 
her  bride- maids ;  the  bridegroom,  on  an  ex 
ceptionally  fine  horse,  surrounded  by  his 
friends ;  and  then  the  rest  of  the  company, 
most  of  the  men  riding  singly,  but  many 
riding  as  I  have  described,  with  a  girl  on  the 
saddle — a  bright  glittering  mass  of  ribbons, 
flowers,  bright  beads,  gold-lace ;  the  women 
in  satin  dresses  and  slippers,  the  men  in  the 
dress  of  the  time  in  California,  which  is  ex 
actly  that  we  see  in  Spanish  pictures — short 
velvet  jackets  covered  with  braid  and  gold 
embroidery,  the  velvet  trousers  open  over 
full  white  drawers,  while  a  string  of  bells 
down  the  seam  jingled  even  more  than 'do 
the  bangles  of  ladies  in  church. 

The  starting-point  was  almost  facing  my 
place  of  observation.     They  would  form  in 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   137 

great  order  and  quiet,  the  horses  knowing 
the  order  of  the  proceedings  evidently  as 
well  as  their  masters,  and  the  signal  for 
starting  was  the  exploding  of  fire-crackers 
by  the  hundred  boxes  under  the  feet  of  the 
horses.  What  with  the  sparks  and  noise, 
it  looked  as  if  the  whole  thing  had  gone  up 
like  the  close  of  a  pantomime. 

It  was  a  point  of  honor  to  show  which 
horse  behaved  best  under  these  circum 
stances.  The  horses  were  trained  in  the 
way  that  has  always  been  favorite  with 
Spanish  people,  to  make  any  number  of 
dancing  movements  in  imitation  of  prog 
ress,  while  in  reality  they  do  not  go  for 
ward  at  all.  I  think  they  are  trained  to 
this  by  having  weights  tied  to  their  legs. 

Each  one  was  a  perfect  horseman.  Each 
man  did  not  simply  ride  his  horse,  but  was 
in  the  habit  of  living  with  it  and  upon  it, 
and  was  consequently  in  perfect  rapport. 
Each  one  of  these  put  in  force  every  art 
known  to  him  to  exhibit  the  spirit  and 
the  beauties  of  his  horse.  As  they  passed 
down  the  one  street  of  the  towrn  the  correct 
thing  was  for  people  from  the  side  to  ad- 


138   A  YEAR  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

vance  and  throw  fire-crackers  in  mass  under 
the  horses'  feet ;  the  firing  of  pistols  was 
of  course ;  no  end  of  little  shrill  screams, 
laughter,  voices  in  every  varying  intonation, 
couplets  sung  to  the  air  which  was  being 
played,  and  taken  up  with  shouts  of  laugh 
ter  ;  the  chorus  by  every  one  who  took  the 
local  allusions.  With  all  this  the  musicians 
played  with  as  much  steadiness  and  anima 
tion  as  though  seated  on  a  platform  instead 
of  the  saddle. 

The  third  day  I  feel  myself  incompetent 
to  describe.  They  had  their  field-sports  for 
that  day  on  the  large  open  green  just  by 
my  perch  in  the  hammock.  And  here  the 
evolutions  in  a  small  space — the  rush  with 
which  they  would  go,  as  though  shot  from 
a  bow,  across  the  plain;  the  bringing -up 
all  standing,  without  any  slacking  of  the 
speed,  leaving  them  motionless  as  an  Eng 
lish  Horse-guard  on  duty;  the  continuous 
whirls  in  a  small  circle,  winding  nearer  and 
nearer  in  towards  the  central  point,  until  it 
seemed  as  though  man  and  horse  must  fall 
from  sheer  dizziness ;  the  mounting  of  a  vi 
cious,  screaming  young  horse,  which  would 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   139 

spring  like  a  cat  into  the  air,  with  all  its 
legs  stiffened  out  and  its  back  bowed,  mak 
ing  one  jump  this  way,  another  that,  until 
it  would  seem  as  though  everything  would 
dislocate  in  its  rider  —  were  a  part  of  the 
exhibition  which  perfectly  fascinated  me. 

We  travelled  about  in  this  delightful 
manner,  putting  into  San  Francisco  for 
news,  or  San  Jose"  for  soft  weather.  We 
made  one  halt  at  San  Jos6  to  get  our 
clothes  washed.  We  thought  this  could  be 
done  there  because  there  were  a  number  of 
emigrant  families ;  but  they  were  rolling  in 
their  own  money,  and  none  of  ours  was  a 
temptation  to  them.  Juan  and  Gregorio 
undertook  to  find  some  Mission  Indians  who 
could  do  it  for  us.  When  these  women 
brought  the  things  back,  they  came  in  a 
body  as  a  family,  the  relations  and  men  of 
the  family  lounging  in  the  rear  and  looking 
on ;  they  were  evidently  proud  of  the  work, 
and  wanted  to  see  the  impression  it  should 
make.  It  made  a  decided  impression  on  me. 
Their  only  method  of  washing  was  to  put 
the  clothes  in  a  brook  and  pound  them  be 
tween  flat  stones,  using  as  soap  a  native 


140   A  YEAB  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

bulb  called  amole.  Everything  looked  very 
white  and  smelled  fresh,  but  they  had  been 
merely  washed  and  dried;  there  was  no 
starching,  no  ironing,  and  a  very  distorted- 
looking  lot  of  garments  they  were.  I  made 
the  women  my  compliments,  seeing  that  was 
expected,  and  asked  when  the  linen  would 
be  ironed,  and  found  that  ironing  was  nei 
ther  known  nor  would  it  be  attempted. 
"Everything  was  clean,"  that  was  enough  in 
their  ideas ;  nor  could  any  bribe  or  persua 
sion  make  any  diiference.  They  accepted 
their  fee  and  went  off  gravely,  with  the. 
usual  "Dios  te  le  paga,  senora"  (God  will 
repay  you,  madam).  Rough-dried  lingerie 
is  not  comfortable,  nor  is  it  pretty.  We 
looked  so  crumpled  and  askew  that  we  could 
not  forget  the  subject,  and  it  wras  with  de 
light  that  we  accepted  the  offer  of  a  negro 
woman  to  wash  and  iron  for  us ;  but  when 
with  this  was  coupled  the  obligation  to 
buy  her,  we  gave  her  up.  It  required  no 
thinking  or  effort  to  make  this  decision :  it 
was  simply  following  out  the  habit  of  mind 
which  came  from  my  education  and  the  ex 
ample  shown  me  at  home.  All  the  neces- 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN   TRAVEL.       141 

sary  thinking  and  deciding  had  been  done 
a  generation  before,  when  my  mother  gave 
freedom  to  her  slaves  because  of  her  con 
scientious  feeling  on  the  subject.  I  have 
always  thought  it  one  of  the  most  unusual 
of  the  many  unusual  high  qualities  in  my 
father,  that  while  he  did  not  share  these 
ideas  from  the  same  religious  and  logical 
thoughts  that  made  them  obligatory  on  my 
mother,  he  yet  made  it  thoroughly  easy  for 
her  to  carry  out  her  feelings.  My  father 
himself  had  refused  two  large  inheritances 
because  he  would  have  had  to  take  the 
slaves  with  the  lands.  It  was  not  an  open 
question,  but  one  that  had  been  settled,  and 
I  merely  followed  in  the  home  ideas  and  ex 
ample  ;  and  it  was  not  merely  as  a  domestic, 
but  a  political  question  that  I  had  often 
heard  it  gone  over.  The  more  intimate 
friends,  John  Randolph,  Chief- Justice  Mar 
shall,  and  many  Virginia  gentlemen  of  great 
estates,  were  united  in  their  intention  to 
bring  slavery  to  an  end.  Some,  as  the  Fair 
fax  family  and  niy  mother,  put  this  inten 
tion  into  force,  and  not  only  gave  freedom 
to  their  inherited  slaves,  but  maintained 


142   A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

them  and  their  children  until  they  were 
self-supporting,  sending  others  to  Liberia 
and  maintaining  correspondence  with  them. 
I  go  into  this  laundry  incident  a  little 
fully  because,  simple  as'  it  seemed,  it  soon 
after  became  of  political  importance.  The 
Convention  had  met  at  Monterey  to  settle 
the  Constitution  of  the  state,  and  the  ques 
tion  whether  slavery  should  or  should  not 
be  admitted  was,  as  every  one  remembers, 
the  exciting  feature.  With  slave  labor  there 
would  be  no  delay  in  opening  up  the  min 
eral  wealth  of  the  country,  and  to  the  fabu 
lous  profits  of  the  owners.  Slave-holders 
and  speculators  in  slaves  only  waited  the 
decision  to  bring  them  overland  in  great 
droves.  Paid  labor  must  necessarily  be 
scanty  in  numbers,  very  expensive,  and 
equally  unreliable.  There  was  also  the 
consideration,  which  is  strong  when  you 
are  made  to  feel  it,  that  it  would  put  an 
end  to  the  great  discomfort  of  being  with 
out  a  class  to  attend  to  the  daily  necessities 
of  life.  The  want  of  proper  food,  proper 
clothing,  were  the  sources  of  ill-health  as 
well  as  discomfort,  and  there  seemed  no 


A  YEAR   OF  AMERICAN   TRAVEL.      143 

way  to  get  at  a  class  to  attend  to  this  where 
no  one  would  work  for  wages,  for  they 
could  be  too  independent  in  other  ways. 
Of  course,  with  time,  this  would  be  righted, 
but  to  people  suddenly  possessed  of  great 
wealth  the  impatience  to  enjoy  it  without 
care  is  equally  great.  These  were  a  troub 
lesome  class  in  the  Convention.  To  these 
might  be  added  nearly  every  woman  in  the 
country,  who  lifted  up  her  voice  and  wept 
over  her  discomforts.  The  government  pat 
ronage  was  on  the  side  of  slavery. 

Every  one  knows  the  important  part  of 
a  good  dinner  in  diplomacy.  The  great 
Napoleon  knew  and  acted  on  this.  The 
very  badly  prepared  food  with  which  the 
members  of  the  Convention  had  to  be  con 
tent  during  their  work  made  them  ready  to 
cry  out  for  cooks  at  the  price  of  any  prin 
ciple.  Here  it  was  my  good  fortune  to  be 
of  service,  and  come  in  aid  to  the  serious 
work  being  clone  by  men  opposed  to  slav 
ery.  Our  rooms  in  the  Castro  house  were 
very  pretty,  with  their  French  and  Chinese 
fittings.  My  army  and  navy  allies  helped 
me  to  keep  them  orderly ;  and  although  I 


144      A  YEAR   OF   AMERICAN   TRAVEL. 

had  then  only  the  two  Indian  men,  we  man 
aged  to  be  very  comfortable.  We  had  the 
grand  wood  fires ;  everybody  sent  me  birds 
and  squirrels  of  their  shooting,  and  these  are 
never  so  good  as  when  broiled  on  the  coals. 
Each  of  our  travellers  was  capable  of  di 
recting,  and  the  men  of  making,  the  Span 
ish  pot  au  feu  "  guisada."  We  had  every 
good  thing  in  fruits,  vegetables,  and  sweets 
that  France  puts  up  for  transportation,  and 
all  served  on  beautiful  Chinese  and  French 
china  and  glass  (I  had  to  get  used  to  Juan 
and  Gregorio  breaking  a  great  deal  of  this). 
Old  Knight,  who  believed  in  me,  brought 
in  his  friends  to  be  convinced  from  myself, 
by  talking  with  me,  that  I  really  did  not 
want  slaves,  and  wTould  never  own  them. 
Our  house  and  table  were  open,  after  the 
hospitable  fashion  of  a  new  country,  to  all 
who  had  been,  or  would  like  to  be,  friends, 
and  they  saw  for  themselves  that  it  was 
quite  possible  for  the  most  cheerful  hospi 
tality  to  exist  without  the  usual  working 
forces.  Here,  again,  I  got  credit  for  what 
was  no  effort.  I  was  not  let  to  do  anything 
that  would  fatigue  me.  Ideas  and  deco- 


A  YEAE  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   145 

rative  touches  I  was  allowed  to  give — dra 
peries  and  "  effects  "  were  rny  department 
— and  the  two  Indian  men  had  perfect 
good-will  and  eagerness  to  serve  me  in  ev 
ery  way.  I  should  have  liked  my  clothes 
ironed,  otherwise  I  felt  the  need  of  nothing. 
In  short,  my  pretty  rooms  were  the  head 
quarters  of  the  antislavery  party,  and  rny- 
self  the  example  of  happiness  and  hospital 
ity  without  servants.  I  did  not  mind  about 
the  housekeeping,  for  all  that  would  right 
itself,  and  I  was  really  let  to  have  no  cares 
and  no  fatigues. 

But  we  did  think  and  consult  over  this 
question  of  slave  labor  because  of  a  far 
greater  which  it  involved.  Our  property 
was  chiefly  in  mines,  by  this  time  proved 
to  be  of  the  richest  quality.  The  diffi 
culties  of  working  them  by  paid  labor 
or  bodies  of  men  working  on  shares  had 
been  experienced  and  were  fully  under 
stood.  Only  a  slight  portion  of  the  gold 
taken  out  could  be  counted  on  as  ours 
in  this  way  of  working  them.  We  could 
not  often  hope  for  such  honor  as  our  So- 
uorians  had  shown.  With  slaves  in  the 
10 


146   A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

mines,  as  our  Southern  friends  constantly 
urged  upon  us,  we  would  have  certain  and 
immediate  wealth  by  millions.  We  had 
just  come  through  the  ordeal  of  want  of 
income.  It  had  involved  separation  from 
each  other,  from  home,  exposure  to  many 
forms  of  danger  to  health  and  life.  This 
was  a  subject  for  serious  consideration. 

Our  decision  was  made  on  the  side  of  free 
labor.  It  was  not  only  the  question  of  injus 
tice  to  the  blacks,  but  of  justice  to  the  white 
men  crowding  into  the  country.  Here  was 
a  field  where  labor  was  amply  repaid,  where 
man's  energy,  his  physical  as  well  as  men 
tal  strength,  could  bring  him  a  great  re 
turn.  We  were  in  the  rebound  from  our 
own  plan  of  patient  waiting  and  slow  gains 
to  all  the  immediate  happiness  and  power 
given  by  the  new  order  of  things.  Slave 
labor  would  shut  off  this  happiness  from 
those  who  had  only  their  labor  to  depend 
upon.  It  would  have  been  a  very  poor  re 
turn  for  the  good  fortune  that  had  come  to 
us  if  we  had  taken  part  in  shutting  it  out 
from  these. 

I  was  going  over  this  with  an  English 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   147 

officer  whom  I  knew  very  well  when  I 
was  at  Nassau ;  it  came  up  in  connec 
tion  with  our  talks  over  the  war.  He 
wras  thoroughly  English,  thoroughly  anti- 
slavery  ;  but  when  I  finished,  he  sprang  up 
and  walked  about  the  room,  exclaiming, 
"  He  ought  not  to  have  done  so  !  He  ought 
to  have  let  the  blacks  wait  another  thirty 
years ;  they  were  used  to  it !"  With  Mr. 
Fr6mont  it  was  the  abstract  idea  of  justice 
and  equal  rights,  but  with  me  only  the  fol 
lowing  a  habit  of  mind  in  which  I  had 
been  nurtured.  I  think  I  may  claim — as 
I  have  said  to  our  Northern  friends — to  be 
long  to  the  "  aristocracy  of  emancipation," 
for  with  my  people  it  has  always  entailed 
voluntary  sacrifices  —  moneyed,  political, 
and  social ;  not  as  with  most  emancipation 
ists  at  the  North,  where  it  was  a  local 
strength  and  advantage. 

We  went  into  San  Francisco  shortly  be 
fore  the  rainy  season — about  three  months 
after  I  had  first  seen  it.  Already  it  was 
changed  out  of  recognition  by  the  crowds 
of  people  added,  and  the  buildings  which 


148      A  YEAR  OF   AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

had  gone  up.  Houses  were  rapidly  going 
up  for  the  winter ;  night  and  day  and  Sun 
days  the  sounds  of  hammers  never  ceased. 
Ready-made  houses  were  to  be  had,  and 
some  very  pretty  little  ones  from  China. 
One  of  these  was  bought  and  put  up  for  me 
on  a  lot  we  had  in  what  was  then  called 
Happy  Valley,  next  to  where  is  now  the 
Palace  Hotel.  It  was  put  up  without  nails, 
except  the  shingling  on  the  roof,  all  the  rest 
fitting  in  together  like  a  puzzle,  and  was 
of  pretty  smooth  wood,  making  a  very  good 
temporary  lodging.  Forty-eight  hours  at 
the  chief  hotel  had  convinced  us  that  it  was 
neither  a  pleasant  nor  safe  place  for  a  lady. 
The  partitions  between  the  rooms  were  only 
of  thin  cotton  cloth  stretched  on  a  light 
frame,  yet  thirty-six  thousand  a  year  was 
given  as  rent  for  this  building. 

Our  little  house  had  but  two  rooms,  but 
they  were  large  and  clean,  and  we  had  what 
were  luxuries — a  wood  fire  burning  in  front 
of  the  cottage,  and  clean  food  well  cooked. 
We  did  not  attempt  furniture,  for  we  were 
only  going  to  stay  ten  days.  Two  bundles 
of  unused  shingles  made  a  very  good  table, 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   149 

while  I  was  absolutely  clear  of  unpleasant 
sights  and  sounds  inevitable  from  such  a 
crowd  as  there  was  in  the  town.  A  friend 
thought  this  was  too  rough  for  me,  and 
much  to  my  regret  made  us  exchange  it  for 
a  house  he  had  recently  built  and  furnished 
in  the  usual  expensive,  commonplace  way. 

Now  my  open  fire  was  a  luxury  counter 
balancing  carpets,  curtains,  and  finery,  and 
our  men,  who  knew  exactly  how  to  roast 
meat  on  sticks  before  the  wood  coals,  or 
between  hot  stones,  and  in  hot  wood  ashes, 
and  who  were  at  home  in  making  guisada — 
swinging  in  its  kettle  from  a  tripod  of  green 
sticks  in  true  gypsy  style — were  lost  when 
confronted  with  a  cooking -stove.  There 
was  a  great  slamming  and  banging  of  the 
iron  doors,  and  many  a  "  caramba  /"  So 
we  fell  back  on  supplies  from  a  French  res 
taurant.  We  were  all  pleased  when  the 
word  was  given  for  another  start.  The 
drive  back  from  San  Francisco  to  Monterey 
in  the  loveliest  October  weather,  through  a 
country  now  so  familiar  to  San  Francisco 
people  as  the  San  Matteo  Road,  was  the  last 
of  our  charming  out-door  life.  After  the 


150   A  YEAH  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

rains  began  I  had  to  remain  at  Monterey ; 
not  only  the  rainy  season,  but  the  approach 
ing  elections,  interfered  with  our  ownership 
of  our  time.  We  lingered  over  this  part  of 
our  travelling,  knowing  it  was  to  be  the 
last,  for  the  political  duties  claimed  now 
the  first  place. 

Rien  n'arrive  que  Vimprevu.  We  had 
planned  to  stay  in  California  about  seven 
years,  the  world  forgetting,  by  the  world 
forgot,  our  first  object  to  live  our  lives  in 
independence,  and  with  the  animating  mo 
tive  and  object,  to  me,  that  in  about  seven 
years  I  should  return  to  my  people.  The 
"  unforeseen"  in  this  case  was  the  discovery 
of  gold.  That  delightful  factor  changed 
our  calculations,  abolished  all  our  plans, 
and  substituted  a  power  to  live  where  we 
pleased  and  do  as  we  pleased,  when  close 
upon  this  came  another  unforeseen  force 
which  made  it  impossible  to  put  our  own 
will  and  pleasure  first. 

What  we  had  done  in  Monterey  when 
the  State  Constitution  was  being  framed 
there  had  enrolled  us  on  the  antislavery 
side.  It  would  have  been  deserting  not  to 


A  TEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   151 

go  through  with  the  work.  Mr.  FrSinont 
could  have  been  either  Governor  or  first 
Senator  from  the  state.  As  Governor  he 
could  have  overlooked  his  private  interests 
to  the  greatest  advantage — in  certain  ways 
have  been  of  most  use.  to  the  state ;  but,  on 
the  other  hand,  as  Senator  he  could  defend 
the  interests  of  the  state  in  Congress.  To 
me  the  overruling  consideration  was  that 
what  I  so  much  wished  myself  would  be 
rendered  obligatory,  and  that  we  should 
have  to  return  to  Washington,  and  our  old 
home  life  be  restored. 

It  was  foreseen  that  the  antislavery  clause 
would  be  opposed,  and  need  a  positive  de 
fender,  but  no  one  foresaw  the  prolonged 
opposition  and  bitterness  of  the  contest 
which  did  follow,  Mr.  Calhoun  leading  the 
opposition. 

The  first  Legislature  met  in  San  Jose, 
but  I  was  taken  back  to  Monterey  because 
of  my  comfortable  rooms  there  ;  they  and 
the  climate  there  would  keep  the  good 
health  I  had  gained.  Some  rain  had  al 
ready  fallen,  and  the  creeks  were  up  on  the 
broad  plains,  so  broad  that  there  would  be 


152   A  YEAB  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

scarcely  an  undulation  in  twenty  miles,  but 
occasionally  seamed  by  a  creek -bed  or 
"  gulch."  Even  in  the  dry  season  these 
dry  creek -beds  and  gulches  had  been  a 
trial  to  nerves  only  accustomed  to  regular 
roads.  The  last  camp  we  made  was  on  the 
Salinas  River,  after  crossing  the  Salinas 
plain.  There  was  not  much  timber  here, 
and  we  had  only  a  thicket  of  tall  brush 
for  shelter.  The  carriage  was  well  closed 
with  its  strong  leather  curtains,  and  made 
an  admirable  shelter ;  but  they  were  wise 
in  leaving  me  in  Monterey,  for  camping  in 
wet  weather  is  very  different  from  the  sum 
mer  travel  we  had  had,  and  this  was  not 
yet  heavy  weather,  only  the  gathering  for 
rain.  But  it  had  its  own  picturesque  ele 
ments,  and  I  remember  giving  them  that 
night  the  substance  of  George  Sand's  Mare 
au  Didble,  of  which  the  place  reminded  me. 
Even  the  little  rain  that  had  fallen  dur 
ing  the  night  had  so  swollen  the  Salinas 
River  that  it  was  found  I  could  not  cross  it 
in  the  carriage.  The  animals  and  the  pole 
were  taken  out,  the  harness  and  cushions 
securely  lashed  on  the  roof,  and  strong  ropes 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   153 

passed  around  the  carriage  to  lower  it  prop 
erly  into  the  stream.  Other  strong  ropes 
were  attached  to  it,  together  with  the  men's 
lariats ;  the  men  themselves,  swimming  their 
horses  across,  took  their  places  on  the  oppo 
site  bank,  which  was  nearly  upright,  ready 
at  the  word  given  to  start  the  horses  off. 
The  carriage  lowered,  off  galloped  the  horse 
men,  shouting  and  cheering  their  horses,  and 
so  the  equipage  was  whipped  through  the 
stream  and  up  the  bank. 

So  few  horses  swim  level  that  I  was  not 
put  upon  one  to  cross.  Our  midshipman 
took  soundings  by  walking  across  the  river 
at  a  point  that  promised  something  of  a 
ford,  and  found  the  water  nowhere  above 
his  waist.  Fortunately  I  weighed  but  little 
then,  and  Mr.  Beale  carried  me  across  on  his 
outstretched  arms;  and  we  accomplished 
our  object  of  outriding  the  storm,  and  were 
safe  in  the  comfortable  rooms  at  Monterey 
before  night,  housed,  dry,  warm,  and  well- 
fed —  the  four  luxuries  of  travellers.  Our 
Englishwoman  was  a  most  efficient  house 
keeper  :  we  had  sent  an  Indian  ahead,  and 
she  had  had  some  hours  to  prepare.  We 


154   A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

found  everything  thoroughly  warm  ;  a  great 
wood  fire ;  dry  clothes  laid  out  for  each  one ; 
the  round  table,  with  its  gleaming  damask 
and  glass  and  china  and  delightful  good 
food,  ready  for  us.  We  thought  this  the 
best  camp  we  had  made  yet.  After  a  little 
rest  I  was  left  alone  here ;  politics  and  busi 
ness  belonged  in  the  busy  American  towns 
to  the  north. 

The  rains  set  in  furiously,  and  I  was  com 
pletely  house-bound;  but  I  could  see  the 
bay,  and  even  through  the  closed  windows 
I  could  hear  the  delightful  boom  of  the  long 
rollers  falling  regularly  and  heavily  on  the 
beach.  Near  by  I  had  my  wood  fire,  and 
plenty  of  reading,  such  as  it  was :  a  collec 
tion  of  the  Merchant's  Magazine,  five  bound 
volumes  of  the  London  Times,  including  the 
period  of  the  Spanish  marriages  and  the 
political  history  of  Europe  for  as  many 
years,  and  an  "unabridged  Byron" — the 
whole  library  of  a  great  flour  merchant, 
who  said  he  "  had  no  time  to  read  himself, 
but  thought,  I  might  find  some  of  those 
interesting."  The  Merchant's  Magazine  was 
tough  reading  at  first,  but  I  did  read  it, 


A  YEAR  OF   AMEKICAN   TBAVEL.       155 

and  gained  a  great  deal  of  knowledge  that 
has  since  fitted  itself  into  more  than  one 
occasion  of  my  life.  Also,  I  had  the  first 
solid  experience  in  the  more  usual  feminine 
pursuit  of  sewing.  A  large  part  of  my 
wardrobe  had  been  left  in  San  Francisco  at 
the  company's  warehouse — all  the  heavier 
things  that  had  been  needed  in  leaving 
New  York  and  would  be  required  again  for 
the  return  voyage ;  in  one  of  the  many  fires 
this  warehouse  went,  and  while  my  loss 
was  comparatively  small,  it  was  important 
to  me,  for  it  obliged  me  to  make  up  some 
warm  dresses.  That  I  had  never  made  a 
dress  did  not  trouble  me;  I  had  done  so 
many  things  that  I  had  never  done  before 
that  a  new  sense  of  power  had  come  to  me, 
and  I  had  no  hesitation  in  undertaking 
that.  But  the  only  stuffs  to  be  had  were 
Chinese  satins  and  the  harshest  English 
merinoes.  I  got  these  in  the  darkest  colors 
that  could  be  found,  and  ripping  up  a  faith 
ful  old  black  silk,  made  afac-simile  of  it  in 
the  new  stuffs.  We  knew  an  old  lady  at 
home  who  never  shaped  the  stockings  she 
knit,  but  knit  straight  in  one  size  to  the 


156      A  YEAR   OF   AMERICAN    TRAVEL. 

heel,  saying  it  was  a  badly  shaped  leg  that 
could  not  shape  a  stocking:  I  think  my 
dresses  were  somewhat  on  this  plan.  But 
I  was  in  the  happy  age  when  figure  graced 
the  dress,  and  queer  as  they  must  have 
been,  they  looked  very  well  when  once  on. 
And  I  gained  another  warm  gown  by  cut 
ting  off  the  extra  length  of  my  riding-habit. 
But  even  with  reading  and  sewing  and  writ 
ing,  the  time  would  have  been  too  still,  if 
there  had  not  been  some  human  voice  to 
break  it.  The  heavy  rains  made  getting 
about  impossible,  and  I  had  practically  no 
carriage,  as  there  was  now  no  one  to  drive 
me.  Mrs.  M'Evoy,  my  cook  and  prime-min 
ister,  had  lived  in  Australia  with  the  wife 
of  the  Chief-Justice  ;  it  interested  me  very 
much  to  have  her  tell  in  detail  the  domes 
tic  life  of  that  new  country.  She  was  an 
intelligent  woman,  who  had  been  in  a  po 
sition  to  see  a  great  deal,  and  when  the 
evening  closed  in  I  made  it  a  regular  cus 
tom  that  she  should  bring  in  her  own  sew 
ing,  and  her  pretty,  clean  baby  had  its  even 
ing  roll  on  the  great  grizzly  bear  skin  that 
was  stretched  in  front  of  the  fire ;  my  own 


A  YEAR  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   157 

little  girl  played  herself  into  early  sleeps. 
The  other  wing  of  the  house  was  occupied 
by  Madame  Castro  herself,  and  her  very 
nice  little  girls  made  charming  playmates 
for  mine. 

Some  years  before,  I  had  read  in  LitteTTs 
Living  Age  the  account  of  a  trial  before  Sir 
Joseph  Forbes,  the  Chief- Justice  writh  whose 
wife  my  woman  had  gone  out  to  Australia. 
The  sentence  of  the  judge  reviewed  the 
case,  and  dwelt  especially  upon  one  state 
ment  of  the  man  who  was  being  sentenced, 
and  whose  own  chief  view  of  his  crimes 
seemed  to  be  that  they  were  so  easy  to 
commit  that  therefore  they  were  matter 
of  course.  We  had  talked  this  over  at  our 
dinner  -  table  at  home — "a  table  round" 
over  which  everything  of  interest  was  dis 
cussed.  Among  us  it  was  the  family  habit 
to  keep  for  the  dinner-table  subjects  of  in 
terest,  and  equally  forbidden  ever  to  allow 
any  disagreeable  topic  to  come  up ;  this 
was  a  law  of  my  father's  to  which  we  had 
complied  so  long  that  the  mind  obeyed  it 
unconsciously. 

The  man  under  sentence  had  committed 


158   A  TEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

eleven  murders  before  being  detected ;  there 
was  no  escape  for  him,  and  he  confessed, 
and  described  the  first  murder.  He  had  a 
way-side  stopping-place,  and  victims  easily 
came  in  his  way.  He  said  that  this  first 
man  he  meant  to  rob  only  ;  but  he  let  him 
leave  his  house  and  get  to  a  certain  point 
on  his  journey,  where  he  knew  he  would 
have  to  stop  and  water  his  horse.  He  was 
there  before  him,  in  hiding,  and  as  the  man 
leaned  over  to  get  water  for  himself,  he  gave 
him  a  blow  on  the  back  of  the  neck  ;  this 
quite  killed  him.  He  made  no  movement, 
and  was  dead.  Then  this  murderer  said  he 
"  had  not  Icnown  before  how  easy  it  was  to  Mil 
a  man;  he  didn't  think  it  was  so  little  trouble. 
After  that  he  always  killed  them  when  he 
found  they  had  money  with  them."  But 
eleven  such  murders  brought  on  the  inves 
tigation  which  terminated  his  career.  Mrs. 
M'Evoy  knew  all  about  this  case,  and  many 
incidents  belonging  to  it  and  to  the  great 
excitement  it  created. 

It  is  one  of  the  odd  things  that  come  up 
in  life  that  I  should  have  found  here  a  liv 
ing  link  with  what  had  been  heretofore 


A  YEAH  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   159 

only  a  matter  of  reading  and  family  dis 
cussion. 

The  time  was  monotonous,  and  seemed 
long.  The  Merchant's  Magazine  is  instruc 
tive,  but  not  exciting  or  amusing  when  one 
is  young.  One  evening  of  tremendous  rain, 
when  we  were,  as  usual,  around  the  fire, 
Mrs.  M'Evoy,  with  her  table  and  lights,  sew 
ing  at  one  side,  myself  by  the  other,  explain 
ing  pictures  from  the  Illustrated  Times  to  my 
little  girl,  while  the  baby  rolled  about  on 
the  bear-skin  in  front 'of  the  fire,  sudden 
ly  Mr.  Fremont  came  in  upon  us,  dripping 
wet,  as  well  he  might  be,  for  he  had  come 
through  from  San  Jos6 — seventy  miles  on 
horseback  through  the  heavy  rain.  He  was 
so  wet  that  we  could  hardly  make  him  cross 
the  pretty  room ;  but  "  beautiful  are  the  feet 
of  him  that  beareth  glad  tidings,"  and  the 
foot-marks  were  all  welcome,  for  they  point 
ed  home.  He  came  to  tell  me  that  he  had 
been  elected  Senator,  and  that  it  was  nec 
essary  we  should  go  to  Washington  on  the 
steamer  of  the  1st  of  January. 

At  daylight  the  next  morning  he  was  off 
again,  having  to  be  back  in  San  Jose.  A 


160      A  YEAR   OF  AMERICAN   TRAVEL. 

young  sorrel  horse,  of  which  Mr.  FrSmont 
was  very  fond,  brought  him  down  and  car 
ried  him  back  this  one  hundred  and  forty 
miles  within  thirty  -  six  hours,  without  fa 
tigue  to  either. 

The  few  intervening  weeks  went  by  quick 
ly  now,  and  we  were  all  ready  for  the  1st. 
Mrs.  M'Evoy  grieved  to  lose  me,  but  Saun- 
ders  was  there,  happy,  with  more  than  mon 
ey  enough  to  buy  the  freedom  of  his  family 
and  secure  them  a  home  also. 

When  we  heard  the  steamer's  gun,  New- 
year's  night,  the  rain  was  pouring  in  tor 
rents,  and  every  street  crossing  was  a  living 
brook.  Mr.  Fremont  carried  me  down, 
warmly  wrapped  up,  to  the  wharf,  where 
we  got  into  a  little  boat  and  rowed  out.  I 
have  found  that  it  changes  the  climate  and 
removes  illness  to  have  the  ship's  head 
turned  the  way  you  wish  to  go. 


A  YEAR   OF  AMERICAN   TRAVEL.       161 


HOMEWARD  BOUND. 

We  had  on  board  some  of  our  fellow-pas 
sengers  who  had  made  the  journey  up  with 
me  in  June,  six  months  before — Dr.  Gwin, 
who  was  elected  the  other  Senator  from  the 
state,  and  Mr.  Ward.  Our  first  stop  was  at 
Mazatlan.  At  Chagres,  at  Panama,  at  San 
Francisco,  the  getting  to  and  from  the  steam 
ers  was  very  unpleasant  and  even  danger 
ous  :  queer  boats  with  undisciplined  boat 
men,  no  wTharves  or  steps  ;  but  at  Mazatlan 
we  found  the  solid  stone  pier  with  prop 
er  steps,  such  as  the  English  are  sure  to 
build  wherever  they  establish  themselves. 
An  English  man-of-war  was  at  anchor,  and 
learning  that  the  newly  elected  Californian 
Senators  were  on  the  steamer  she  paid  us 
the  compliment  of  a  salute  of  honor,  and 
put  the  captain's  gig  at  our  service.  In 
place  of  the  dangerous  landing  and  heavy 
swell,  as  at  the  mouth  of  the  Chagres,  or 
being  carried  through  the  water  on  the  back 
of  an  Indian  over  the  reef,  as  at  Panama, 
or  in  the  same  way  up  the  mud  bank,  as  at 
San  Francisco — here  the  tide  being  so  out 
11 


162   A  YEAR  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

that  the  boat  could  not  quite  reach  the 
steps — the  sailors  jumped  into  the  water 
and  laid  their  oars  in  a  compact  bridge 
from  the  bow  of  the  boat  to  the  steps,  stand 
ing  on  either  side  with  their  elbows  out, 
making  a  living  parapet  to  the  improvised 
bridge.  I  felt  that  we  had  already  returned 
to  civilization.  On  the  pier  waited  the  ba 
rouche  and  fine  horses  belonging  to  the 
English  consul-general.  His  were  orthodox 
harness  horses,  and  I  could  enjoy  my  drive. 
His  house  was  interesting.  There  were  ac 
cumulations  made  during  many  years'  resi 
dence  of  beautiful  things,  modern  as  well 
as  old  Mexican  curiosities,  and  interesting 
things  from  both  shores  of  the  Pacific.  Even 
the  well-served  dinner  and  trained* servants 
had  their  own  charm,  from  my  long  absence 
from  such  things.  The  house  was  of  stone, 
and  the  walls  many  feet  thick,  making  it 
delightfully  cool.  We  had  felt  the  heat  be 
fore  reaching  Mazatlan,  and  to  do  honor  to 
Mr.  Forbes  (and  also  because  I  distrusted 
the  effect  of  my  Monterey  gowns  on  ladies) 
I  took  off  warmer  clothing,  and  dressed  my 
self  in  one  of  my  best  white  gowns,  in  which 


A  YEAR   OF  AMERICAN   TRAVEL.       163 

I  felt  orthodox,  as  my  Englishwoman  had 
put  these  and  all  my  "  frills "  into  lovely 
condition. 

We  met  a  norther  in  coming  out  of  the 
Gulf  of  California,  and  had  some  days  of 
great  discomfort — waves  breaking  on  deck, 
every  one  having  to  remain  below  under 
closed  hatches.  Each  of  us  had  taken  cold 
from  the  imprudent  change  of  dress  at  Ma- 
zatlan.  Added  to  this  was  the  bad  air  from 
the  necessarily  closed  hatches. 

As  I  am  fortunate  enough  not  to  be  sub 
ject  to  sea-sickness,  I  have  the  correspond 
ing  disadvantage  of  being  awake  to  every 
thing  that  goes  amiss ;  in  this  case  the  con 
sequence  was  an  illness  which  took  a  form 
that  put  me  in  danger  of  dying.  Here  again 
my  usual  good  fortune  showed  itself.  There 
was  a  regular  ship  surgeon,  for  whom  I  could 
have  no  deference ;  but  among  the  passen 
gers  was  a  really  good  physician — a  navy 
surgeon  who  had  made  his  studies  in  Paris. 
Dr.  Bowie  had  me  immediately  moved  up  to 
the  captain's  state-room  on  deck,  where  his 
skill,  aided  by  the  great  physician,  pure  air, 
kept  me  alive. 


164   A  YEAH  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

There  was  no  stewardess,  and  only  one 
woman  passenger ;  no  ice.  Perfect  quiet  and 
freedom  from  all  motion  was  the  first  requi 
site  for  me.  This  was,  of  course,  impossi 
ble  ;  but,  against  all  disadvantages,  I  lived 
on,  although  when  we  reached  Panama  I 
was  too  exhausted  to  make  the  land  cross 
ing.  There  was  only  a  monthly  steamer  at 
that  time-.  No  one  would  tell  me  that  I 
should  have  to  miss  this  and  stay  in  Pana 
ma  over  the  next  month ;  on  the  contrary, 
little  sketches  were  made  of  ships'  ham 
mocks  on  stretchers,  and  all  devices  for  get 
ting  me  across  without  danger  or  fatigue 
were  constantly  talked  over  to  me,  and  I 
believed  that  I  should  go  straight  through. 
"English  Tom" — a  big  quiet-faced  old  man- 
of-war's  man — carried  me  down  the  gang 
plank,  and  took  me  ashore  without  a  rough 
motion.  I  noticed  that  Saunders  was  not 
about,  nor  Mr.  Fre'mont,  and  asked  for  them ; 
but  my  physician  had  taken  the  precaution 
to  give  me  an  opiate,  and  I  slept  for  a  long 
time,  waking  to  find  myself  again  under  the 
hospitable  roof  of  Madame  Arce,  who  claim 
ed  me  as  hers. 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   165 

Mr.  Stephens  (generally  known  as  "  Cen 
tral  America  Stephens  ")  was  in  Panama  at 
tending  to  the  affairs  of  the  future  Panama 
Railway,  of  which  he  was  vice  -  president. 
We  had  known  him  well  in  Washington. 
On  learning  that  I  was  on  board  and  so  ill, 
he  knew  I  would  be  unable  to  cross,  and 
had  at  once  told  Madame  Arce",  who  said 
that  I  belonged  to  her  by  right.  When  I 
waked  it  was  to  find  myself  again  on  a 
sick-becl,  with  her  kind  face  near  nie  ;  but 
in  the  next  room  was  another  sick  person, 
over  whom  the  doctor  was  standing ;  and 
then  I  learned  for  the  first  time  that  Mr. 
FrSmont  was  perfectly  crippled  with  rheu 
matic  fever.  The  thorough  chilling  he  had 
received  in  Mazatlan  had  brought  on  rheu 
matic  fever  in  the  leg  which  had  been  frost 
bitten  the  winter  before.  This  turned  my 
mind  from  my  own  disappointment. 

Our  good  friend  and  physician  remained 
with  us  until  the  last  moment  in  which  he 
could  connect  with  the  steamer  at  Chagres, 
and  would  have  remained  the  month  if  we 
had  needed  him.  It  was  hard  every  way  to 
give  him  up,  but  we  were  where  we  could 


166       A  YEAR   OF  AMERICAN   TRAVEL. 

have   very  good    care,   medical    and   per 
sonal. 

Madame  Arc6  had  moved  into  the  house 
of  a  daughter  who  had  recently  died,  and 
the  views  were  quite  different  this  time, 
looking  across  the  garden  of  an  adjoining 
convent  to  the  open  blue  sea.  The  early 
church  buildings  in  Panama  were  in  keep 
ing  with  the  wealth  of  the  Spaniards  and 
their  need  for  repentance  ;  but  many  were 
now  roofless,  and  all  except  the  cathedral 
itself  in  a  state  of  decay.  The  roof  and 
spire  of  this  great  building  were  complete 
ly  inlaid  with  mother-of-pearl  shells,  which 
gave  out  wonderful  colors  under  sunlight, 
especially  when  sunshine  followed  rain,  and 
they  had  the  added  beauty  of  water  in  the 
shells.  The  convent  buildings,  which  made 
the  nearest  foreground,  were  only  the  more 
picturesque  from  being  in  decay.  The  bell 
tower,  with  its  crumbling  arched  openings 
around  the  bell,  through  which  showed  the 
background  of  deepest  blue  sky,  made  a 
beautiful  frame  for  the  picture  one  saw 
when  the  bells  had  to  be  rung,  especially 
at  vespers,  the  time  at  which  I  saw  it  often- 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   167 

est.  The  machinery  for  ringing  the  bell 
was  gone,  and  it  was  sounded  by  striking 
it  with,  stones.  The  laughing  young  Indian 
girls  who  went  up  to  do  this  wore  the  usual 
fluttering  loose  ruffled  garments  of  Panama, 
and  they  were  near  enough  for  us  to  see 
the  glitter  of  their  eyes  and  teeth  as  they 
were  pounding  away  at  the  bell  in  their 
unorthodox  and  unmusical  fashion. 

This  was  a  picture  of  which  I  never  got 
tired,  and  it  grew  to  be  a  mixture  of  read 
ing  and  realities  which,  when  the  fever  was 
on  me,  would  take  shape ;  the  "  unabridged 
Byron  "  which  had  been  lent  me  at  Monte 
rey  had  given  me  the  story  of  Parisina,  and 
the  execution  of  Hugo  framed  itself  in  this 
convent  tower. 

In  California  we  were  well  off  when  we 
had  one  room,  and  luxurious  with  two. 
Here  Madame  Arc6  had  given  us  the  larg 
est  and  coolest  rooms  in  her  house,  and  my 
cot  was  placed  in  the  large  ballroom,  which 
opened  from  the  bedroom  where  Mr.  Fr6- 
mont  lay.  In  that  warm  climate  very  lit 
tle  furniture  is  used.  This  ballroom  was 
eighty  feet  long,  and  high  and  wide  in  pro- 


168   A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

portion,  and  the  chairs  and  sofas  were  set  in 
compact  rows  around  the  room.  The  floor 
was  of  dark  polished  wood,  and  the  walls 
and  ceiling  painted  darkish  blue,  to  which 
the  furniture  corresponded.  There  was  one 
sofa,  or  rather  a  sofa-divan,  on  which  I  lay 
in  the  day,  while  a  linen  cot,  with  one  sh  eet 
under  and  one  sheet  above,  made  all  that 
was  necessary  for  the  night.  There  were 
no  glass  windows ;  great  doors,  like  barn 
doors,  slid  back  and  left  huge  openings 
which  let  in  the  view,  and,  from  the  height 
we  wrerc  above  the  ground,  I  was  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  bell  in  its  tower,  and 
of  the  tops  of  the  thicket  of  young  cocoa- 
nut-trees,  which  kept  waving  and  fanning 
to  and  fro  between  me  and  the  waters  of 
the  bay.  Stephens  was  the  first  to  notice 
the  effect  of  these  trees  upon  me,  seeing 
my  eyes  follow  their  balancing  movements 
from  side  to  side.  He  came  every  day,  and 
often  during  the  day,  to  be  with  us  ;  some 
times  putting  his  chair  where  he  could  com 
mand  both  of  our  positions,  saying,  in  his 
cheerful  way,  "I  have  come  to  take  my 
chill  with  you,"  and  proceeding  to  shake 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   169 

with  those  violent  chills  which  he  had 
contracted  there,  and  which  not  long  after 
killed  him. 

I  astonished  them  one  clay  declaiming 
the  execution  of  Hugo,  which  had  gradual 
ly  come  out  from  its  place  in  my  memory, 
and  embodied  itself  with  the  vesper  ringing 
of  this  bell  and  the  general  sunset  and  trop 
ical  effect  of  the  whole  view  before  me : 

"  The  convent  bells  are  ringing, 

But  mournfully  and  slow ; 
In  the  gray  square  turret  swinging, 

With  a  deep  sound,  to  and  fro. 

Heavily  to  the  heart  they  go  ! 
Hark  !  the  hymn  is  singing — 

The  eong  for  the  dead  below, 

Or  the  living  who  shortly  shall  be  so  !" 

My  illness  had  taken  the  form  of  intermit 
tent  fever,  as  most  things  do  in  the  ague 
climates,  and  regularly  as  the  fever  hour 
came,  Hugo  came  up  with  it. 

Although  not  well  enough  to  sit  up,  we 
saw  very  pleasant  people,  among  them  the 
Governor  of  New  Granada,  and  the  officers 
of  one  of  our  men-of-war,  while  the  old  serv 
ants  Narcissa  and  my  former  favorite,  Can- 
delaria,  dosed  and  petted  us  and  brought 


170   A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

us  nice  things,  as  though  we  were  babies 
that  had  to  be  brought  back  to  life  by  un 
remitting  care. 

Every  day  the  kind  nuns  from  the  con 
vent  sent  me  over  some  delicate  prepara 
tion  of  fruits.  A  smiling  Indian  girl,  with 
soft  drawling  accent,  would  give  the  little 
message  with  it,  which  was  always  to  the 
same  effect,  "  that  they  prayed  I  might  not 
die  so  far  from  my  own  country."  It  was 
some  delicate  preparation  of  preserved  fruit, 
and  the  pretty  china  plate  on  which  it  was 
sent  was  always  surrounded  by  blossoms 
of  some  white  flower,  orange  or  jasmine ; 
from  these  they  would  take  away  every 
green  leaf  and  stem,  and  set  the  flowers 
around  thickly,  one  against  the  other.  We 
saw  here  a  flower  called  the  "  variable," 
or  "mujercita"  (young  woman),  because  it 
changed  three  times  a  day — in  the  morning 
pure  white,  at  noon  rose  color,  and  at  sun 
down  deep  red,  which  a  botanist  once  told 
me  was  nature's  mourning. 

There  was  a  man-of-war  in  the  harbor, 
and  its  captain  planned  for  me  a  palanquin 
in  which  I  could  be  taken  across  in  perfect 


A  YEAR  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   171 

safety  from  any  jarring  or  the  weather ;  this 
was  a  ship's  cot  swung  to  two  poles,  and 
carried  by  four  men,  with  a  light  awning 
over  a  frame,  and  its  white  duck  curtains 
could  roll  up  or  lower  at  pleasure. 

Stephens,  the  Governor,  and  Mr.  Fremont 
had  many  talks  over  the  Isthmus  railway 
which  was  just  then  being  built,  and  over 
the  future  railways  across  the  continent, 
which  are  now  completed,  but  which  then 
were  only  believed  possible  by  the  few  who 
were  working  for  them.  I  had  seen  enough 
of  the  suffering  of  the  emigration,  when  I 
crossed  the  Isthmus  in  going  out,  to  be  able 
to  realize  the  terrible  loss  of  life  required  to 
build  this  Isthmus  road.  The  first  eight 
miles  go  over  marsh  ground  which  gave  very 
poor  foundation.  The  difficulty  of  planting 
the  piles  was  just  then  the  uppermost  sub 
ject.  I  remember  Stephens  saying  that  as 
yet  they  stood  only  on  human  bones.  This 
was  not  literally,  but  figuratively  true,  for 
the  climate  cost  many  lives.  The  terms  of 
agreement  on  which  laborers  came  out  were 
three  months'  work  and  their  free  passage 
back  to  New  York  or  to  California,  as  they 


172   A  TEAR  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

chose.  Only  about  thirty  per  cent,  claimed 
this  passage,  and  almost  all  of  those  went 
back  to  New  York ;  the  rest  were  buried 
where  they  had  fallen,  from  the  climate;  and 
Stephens  himself  contracted  such  a  deadly 
form  of  chills  and  fever  that  he  lived  but 
a  few  years  after  this.  He  is  best  known 
by  his  writings  and  travels  in  Arabia  and 
Central  America  ;  but  his  friends  knew  also 
how  far-sighted  he  was  in  practical  matters. 
His  was  one  of  the  impelling  minds  towards 
building  the  Croton  Aqueduct.  When  we 
were  first  in  New  York,  in  '48,  he  drove  us  to 
what  was  then  a  country  spot  surrounded  by 
trees  and  open  meadows — the  reservoir  on 
Forty-second  Street — and  from  the  top  of  it 
pointed  upward  to  the  fields  and  rocks  that 
lay  beyond,  telling  us  that  he  was  so  con 
vinced  that  the  near  future  of  New  York  lay 
there  that  he  had  invested  in  lands  which 
would  make  the  fortune  of  some  one  else ; 
that  he  would  not  live  to  see  it,  because,  nat 
urally  delicate,  his  health  was  too  broken  for 
him  to  look  forward  to  any  length  of  life. 
He  told  us  of  the  contempt  with  which  his 
belief  was  received  by  the  wealthy  citizens 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   173 

of  his  acquaintance,  who  scouted  the  idea  of 
entering  into  any  such  "  wild  speculations  " 
as  that ;  told  us  of  calculations  they  had 
made  how  the  interest  on  the  money  which 
he  had  expended  would  overbalance  any 
profits  before  those  lots  could  be  built  upon. 
He  said  that  he  had  made  his  will,  giving 
that  property  to  young  relations,  who  would 
certainly  have  the  benefit  of  his  foresight — 
as  they  have  had. 

The  steamers  were  then  a  month  apart. 
"We  were  both  comfortably  well  long  before 
the  time  for  starting  came.  I  was  not 
strong  enough  to  leave  my  room,  but  Mr. 
FrCmont,  in  spite  of  prophetic  warnings  in 
regard  to  the  influence  of  the  climate,  made 
daily  excursions  in  the  neighborhood  with 
Saunders,  searching  about  the  country,  with 
its  new  and  interesting  botany.  We  had  not 
a  bad  time  at  all.  February  is  one  of  the 
best  months  in  the  tropics.  We  had  lots 
of  books,  and  saw  intelligent  and  pleasant 
people ;  everything  about  us  was  beautiful 
and  comfortable,  and  our  minds  were  en 
tirely  content  with  our  own  affairs,  and  it 
was  a  novelty  to  be  quietly  together,  with 
out  a  separation  in  prospect. 


174   A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

My  palanquin  was  ready  and  was  brought 
up  for  me  to  see.  It  looked  like  the  illus 
tration  to  "  Madagascar  "  in  an  old-fash- 
ioned  geography.  We  had  to  time  start 
ing  so  as  to  avoid  being  detained  in  Cha- 
gres,  and  we  had  also  to  have  a  sufficiently 
strong  party  to  meet  a  new  danger  which 
had  grown  up  with  the  travel  on  the  Isth 
mus — a  regular  banditti  force,  which  way 
laid  and  robbed,  and  sometimes  murdered, 
passengers;  this  was  recruited  from  our 
country,  Australia,  and  especially  Jamaica. 

It  had  never  come  in  my  way  to  meet,  a 
man  entirely  without  personal  courage.  It 
was  such  a  matter  of  course  to  me  that  men 
took  care  of  women,  and  could  not  be  fright 
ened  by  anything,  that  it  came  to  me,  as  a 
young  friend  of  mine  says,  "  a  rev'lation,  a 
perfect  rev'lation,"  to  come  upon  such  an  in 
stance  of  want  of  courage  as  we  met  at  this 
time.  Our  party  had  been  carefully  chosen  ; 
competent  persons  had  looked  out  for  every 
belonging  —  good  men  to  carry  my  ham 
mock,  and  good  reliable  men  for  the  bag 
gage  ;  and,  in  short,  a  good  fighting  as  well 
as  travelling  force  had  been  put  together. 


A  YEAR  OF   AMERICAN  TRAVEL.       175 

The  California  steamer  was  in,  and  one 
of  its  passengers,  having  his  gold  with  him 
in  a  small  trunk,  actually  came  to  us  not 
only  to  ask  us  to  take  him  across  in  our 
party  to  protect  this  gold,  but  to  keep  it 
for  him  until  the  following  clay,  when  we 
were  to  start.  He  was  an  entire  stranger 
to  us,  but  was  an  educated  man,  and  ap 
peared  to  be,  what  he  said  he  was,  a  phy 
sician.  He  said  he  heard  of  my  being  ill 
there,  and  of  the  strength  of  our  party,  and 
that  he  thought  he  could  go  as  my  physi 
cian,  and  not  be  suspected  of  having  treas 
ure  with  him.  He  was  in  an  anguish  of 
terror  about  his  gold.  Mr.  Fremont  let 
him  join  us.  We  were  only  to  cross  the 
plain  a  few  miles,  and  make  our  camp  at 
the  foot  of  the  hills  that  first  night.  I  was 
put  in  my  hammock  and  carefully  carried 
down  into  the  street,  after  a  leave-taking  with 
our  dear,  kind  friend  which  left  me  shaken. 
Pier  hospitality  and  motherly  goodness  and 
care  had  been  vital  to  me  now  on  two  oc 
casions,  and  she  herself  was  so  intelligent 
and  charming  that  it  had  been  a  pleasure 
to  know  her,  apart  from  this.  Mr.  Fr6mont 


176      A   YEAR    OF  AMEKICAN  TRAVEL. 

and  herself  had  had  long  talks  on  all  sub 
jects,  and  it  was  a  pain  to  each  to  lose  the 
other.  My  men  were  very  proud  of  niy 
new  equipage,  the  first  of  its  kind  ever  seen 
there,  and  the  people  flocked  around  to  look 
at  it  as  they  would  to  any  other  show  ;  the 
men  would  halt  to  explain  it,  and  expati 
ate  upon  its  merits,  while  equally  free  ex 
planations  of  myself  were  asked  and  given 
at  the  same  time.  Among  a  colored  race  I 
would  have  seemed  fair  at  any  time,  but 
now,  whitened  by  long  illness,  they  thought 
me  dying,  and  said  so.  They  hardly  offered 
bets  that  I  would  not  reach  the  other  side, 
but  something  to  the  same  effect,  while  the 
compassionate  women  would  make  prayers 
over  me  that  I  might  at  least  get  to  my  own 
country  before  dying.  "  La  pobrecita !  morir 
tan»  lejo  de  su  pais !"  (Ah,  the  poor  young 
thing — dying  so  far  from  her  own  country !) 
When  we  came  to  our  halting-place  for 
the  night,  I  was  already  so  excited  that  an 
opiate  was  given  me  ;  this  had  only  the  ef 
fect  of  making  me  quiet  and  dumb,  but 
did  not  make  me  sleep.  I  lay  in  my  ham 
mock  watching  all  things;  I  wanted  to 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   177 

rouse  some  one  to  take  care  of  a  white  horse 
which  had  a  great  vampire  bat  upon  its 
neck,  fanning  it  with  its  wide  wings  and 
sucking  its  blood,  so  that  next  day  we  could 
not  use  it,  but  I  was  tongue-tied. 

The  next  day  we  had  a  longer  pull,  and 
here  the  physician  who  had  asked  our  pro 
tection  could  in  turn  have  been  of  some  use 
by  keeping  near  me,  and  seeing  that  I  re 
ceived  at  once  any  care  that  might  be  need 
ed  ;  this  he  offered  to  do,  and  so  Was  put 
nearest  me  in  the  file  when  we  started.  I 
fell  asleep,  and  they  made  a  little  halt  that 
I  might  have  my  sleep  unbroken ;  the  bag 
gage  escort  was  at  some  little  distance, 
so  as  not  to  disturb  me.  "  The  doctor  " 
thought  too  much  time  was  being  lost,  and 
that  his  dear  trunk  would  be  exposed  to 
more  evil  chances  as  dark  fell,  so  he  gave 
an  order  to  the  men  to  go  on  with  the  bag 
gage  ;  and  they  not  doubting  his  authority, 
went  on,  leaving  us  just  the  palanquin  and 
its  bearers,  with  Mr.  FrSniont  and  my  little 
girl,  to  follow  through  the  most  dangerous 
part  of  the  route,  all  defiles  and  thickly 
wooded  mountain-sides ;  also,  he  carried  off 
12 


178   A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

with  him  my  medicines.  Saunders  had  been 
charged  not  to  lose  sight  of  the  baggage, 
and,  suspecting  nothing,  was  giving  his 
whole  attention  to  that,  so  was  off  with  it. 

Our  punishment  to  the  doctor  was  not  to 
let  him  have  our  care  on  the  descent  of  the 
river.  We  left  him  to  take  his  chance  there. 
They  told  us  at  Gorgena  of  the  recent  mur 
der  of  thirteen  persons,  the  whole  of  a  party, 
by  the  Jamaica  negroes  who  had  brought 
them  up.  We, took  care  this  story  should 
be  repeated,  with  details,  to  him,  and  then 
refused  him  the  protection  of  our  boat, 
which  he  shamelessly  begged  for. 

Going  down  the  river  was  much  easier 
than  coming  up  it ;  we  had  only  to  float,  and 
keep  the  boat  off  from  the  sunken  trees  and 
points  of  land ;  occasionally  the  men  used 
their  long  sweeps.  It  took  but  two  days,  as 
we  went  with  the  stream,  and  we  had  in 
that  way  but  one  night  on  the  river.  We 
took  all  the  best  precautions  of  thorough 
shelter  from  the  night  dews,  and  a  great 
•ftre  to  purify  the  air  about  us,  and  kept  to 
our  quinine  and  coffee.  The  heat  did  not 
seem,  very  great,  and  I  was  absolutely  com- 


A  YEAR  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   179 

fortable  in  rny  hammock,  which  made  a  sort 
of  gondola  of  our  canoe,  and  the  Scotch 
plaid  stretched  over  it  made  a  cool  shade 
beneath.  We  were  in  such  content  that  the 
beauty  of  the  tropical  growth,  with  all  its 
strange  shapes  and  splendid  coloring,  its 
giant  creepers  and  masses  of  blossoms,  gave 
us  the  delight  that  we  ought  to  have  had 
in  them,  but  which  I  could  not  feel  fully 
when  I  was  going  up  the  river.  I  saw  it 
all  now  with  new  eyes. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  second  day,  as 
we  neared  the  mouth  of  the  river,  across  a 
bend  which  stretched  before  us  green  and 
feathery  with  its  palm-trees,  I  caught  sight 
of  a  dark  straight  line  pointing  upward.  If 
I  had  known  what  I  was  doing,  it  would 
have  been  unpardonable,  but  too  much  fever 
had  unhinged  me ;  and  in  my  excitement  at 
recognizing  the  mast  of  a  steamer,  I  sprang 
up,  crying  there  was  the  ship  that  was  to 
take  me  home,  and  so  undid  all  the  good 
work  that  had  been  done  by  the  month  of 
quiet  at  Panama.  This  time  the  fever  set 
in  for  good.  The  climate  had  told  on  us 
too,  and  even  the  one  night  on  the  river 


180   A  YEAH  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

was  sure  of  bad  results.  But  here  I  came 
on  one  of  my  best  pieces  of  good  fortune. 
At  that  time  this  steamer  line  was  officered 
from,  our  navy.  The  percentage  on  the 
treasure  carried  gave  them  each  month 
more  than  their  usual  year's  pay,  while  the 
owners  of  the  steamers  and  treasure  had 
the  certainty  of  brave  as  well  as  honorable 
men  to  protect  their  property.  After  all,  it 
was  not  so  long  since  the  Gulf  had  been  the 
scene  of  a  great  deal  of  piracy,  and  with  this 
new  stream  of  gold  pouring  into  that  lone 
ly  region,  there  were  rumors  of  a  renewal 
of  the  old  pirate  business. 

Commodore  Porter,  father  of  the  admi 
ral,  had  distinguished  himself  so  much  in 
the  Mediterranean  by  his  services  in  help 
ing  to  put  down  piracy  there  that  he  was 
sent  to  the  West  Indies  to  stop  it  in  those 
waters.  Lafitte's  men  were  then  (1824)  the 
terror  of  commerce.  He  succeeded  in  do 
ing  this  thoroughly.  There  was  more  than 
suspicion  that  it  was  connived  at  by  the 
Spanish  authorities  in  the  West  India  Isl 
ands,  and  at  one  of  these  ports — Porto  Rico 
—the  resentment  for  disturbing  their  profits 


A  YE  All   OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.      181 

took  the  form  of  an  insult  to  our  flag  ;  this 
Commodore  Porter  compelled  them  to  atone 
for.  But  even  then  we  had  a  habit  of  study 
ing  Spanish  feelings  first,  and  our  nation 
al  feeling  after ;  so  Commodore  Porter  was 
court-martialled  on  some  point  involving 
the  letter  of  the  law.  The  finding  of  the 
court-martial  was  against  him. 

One  can  imagine  the  feeling  of  an  officer 
who  knew  that  he  had  performed  unparal 
leled  services,  and  been  of  greatest  benefit 
to  his  country.  He  must  have  looked  at 
this  sentence  by  the  light  of  the  eighty  odd 
whale-ships  which  he  had  burned  in  the  Pa 
cific  Ocean,  inflicting  immense  loss  on  Brit 
ish  commerce,  and  making  the  streets  of 
London  "  burn  dark  for  a  year,"  as  was  said 
in  Parliament ;  there  must  have  crowded  on 
him  the  memories  of  years  of  isolation  and 
separation  from  home,  all  the  weary,  un 
shared  hours  that  go  to  make  up  the  hard 
est  side  of  a  naval  officer's  life,  his  joy  and 
pride  in  his  service  to  his  country ;  and  then 
to  strike,  as  it  were,  on  a  sunken  rock  in 
this  cold,  bloodless  interpretation  of  a  trea 
ty  stipulation  discriminating  in  favor  of  the 


182       A  YEAH  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

enemy  !  It  was  no  wonder  that  the  old  offi 
cer  broke  his  sword  and  threw  it  away,  vow 
ing  never  to  draw  it  again  in  defence  of  a 
country  that  would  let  him  be  treated  in 
that  manner.  This  was  under  the  adminis 
tration  of  Mr.  Adams. 

Diplomatic  relations  were  opened  with 
Turkey  in  General  Jackson's  administra 
tion.  It  was  necessary  to  send  some  one 
who  should  be  suitable  in  all  respects.  Com 
modore  Porter's  name  was  already  known 
there  from  his  exploits  in  his  young  days ; 
it  was  synonymous  with  the  power  and  the 
dignity  of  our  flag.  This  led  to  looking  into 
the  reasons  for  his  resigning  from  the  navy, 
and  renewed  the  indignation  wihch  those 
who  had  followed  the  court-martial  at  the 
time  felt  at  its  cold,  ungenerous  treatment 
of  one  of  the  country's  most  efficient  officers. 

My  father  was  a  born  redresser  of  wrongs, 
and  General  Jackson  was  not  the  man  to 
bother  over  a  technical  detail  where  the 
honor  of  the  flag  was  concerned.  With  him 
the  honor  of  the  flag  canie  first,  after  that 
the  sensibilities  of  other  nations. 

Commodore  Porter,  then  living  on  the 


A  YEAR  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   183 

Mediterranean,  was  old  and  broken  with 
exile  and  many  cares  when  there  reached 
him  the  respectful  and  flattering  request  to 
be  our  first  representative  to  the  Turkish 
Empire.  He  made  the  long  journey  to  the 
United  States —  by  sail  then  —  to  give  his 
thanks  in  person  to  those  who  had  done  him 
this  late  act  of  justice.  Finding  that  my 
father,  who  had  never  seen  him,  had  most 
information  regarding,  and  the  keenest  in 
terest  in  redressing,  this  wrong,  he  gave  him 
his  warm  friendship.  During  the  time  he 
remained  in  Washington  he  was  constantly 
with  my  mother  as  well  as  my  father,  and 
in  this  way  an  intimacy  was  commenced 
which  lasted  through  his  life. 

It  was  his  eldest  son  who  had  command 
of  this  steamer,  with  a  staff  under  him  of 
his  young  naval  friends,  among  them  a  good 
surgeon,  who  said  I  must  have  at  least  some 
hours  of  absolute  repose.  The  ship  was 
light,  and  out  of  coal,  and  rolled  heavily  in 
the  swell  off  the  mouth  of  the  Chagres.  The 
coming  on  board  of  the  passengers  would 
necessarily  make  a  great  noise.  The  cap 
tain  was  not  then,  any  more  than  now,  a 


184      A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN   TRAVEL. 

laggard  in  his  decisions.  He  steamed  down 
to  Portobello,  where  the  waters  were  calm, 
and  gained  for  me  the  freedom  from  all 
motion  and  quiet  on  the  ship.  The  pas 
sengers  were  furious  at  being  delayed,  and 
having  to  come  that  distance  on  the  little 
tender.  After  the  fashion  of  our  people, 
they  immediately  held  a  public  meeting, 
passed  a  vote  of  censure  on  the  captain, 
and  adopted  resolutions  recommending  the 
company  to  remove  him,  under  penalty  of 
the  displeasure  of  the  California  travel. 
Having  done  this  in  their  haste,  they  imme 
diately  undid  it  as  soon  as  they  learned 
the  reason  for  the  captain's  conduct,  and 
followed  another  and  better  fashion  of  our 
people  in  undoing  an  injustice,  and  did  all 
in  their  power  to  help  him  take  care  of  me. 
In  every  part  of  my  journey  I  came  upon 
proof  upon  proof  of  this  manly  kindness 
and  care  for  women  among  our  American 
men.  To  travel  alone  in  Europe  is  impos 
sible  ;  even  travelling  with  one's  children 
and  a  maid  you  do  not  receive  the  respect 
or  attention  that  you  have  if  there  is  a  gen 
tleman  in  the  party.  But  in  our  country 


A  YEAH  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   185 

it  is  exactly  different.  The  need  of  atten 
tion  or  assistance  draws  out  that  instinc 
tive  sense  of  protection  which  seems  to  be 
innate  in  our  people.  To  be  in  mourning, 
or  look  ill  or  sad,  or  to  be  encumbered  with 
children,  is  a  sure  appeal  to  the  exercise  of 
this  instinct. 

A  part  of  the  main  cabin  had  been  por 
tioned  off  with  sheets  and  table-cloths  tack 
ed  to  the  ceiling  and  floor,  and  to  keep  me 
from  being  thrown  off  I  was  lashed  to  the 
sofa,  for  it  was  now  March,  and  we  were  al 
ready  in  a  norther,  and  continued  in  one 
gale  after  another  until  we  reached  New 
York.  When  I  was  able  to  understand 
again,  I  found  myself  tightly  lashed  to  this 
sofa,  the  ship  rolling  and  pitching  tremen 
dously.  The  officers  would  come  to  look 
after  me  often  —  sometimes  in  their  "  rain 
clothes,"  icicles  on  their  beards  and  eye 
lashes,  and  very  glad  at  last  to  find  me  not 
only  alive,  but  able  to  ask  questions  and 
understand  everything  again.  I  have  been 
told  since  that  by  all  the  laws  of  medicine 
I  should  have  died  then,  but  the  greatest 
physicians  maintain  that  there  are  more  re- 


180   A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

sources  in  nature  than  are  yet  dreamed  of 
in  their  philosophy,  and  this  was  a  case  in 
support  of  that  idea.  Mr.  Fremont  also  was 
extremely  ill ;  perhaps  we  had  all  been  un 
dermined  by  the  month's  stay  on  the  Isth 
mus  and  the  river  travel,  and  the  anxieties 
about  my  illness  added  the  feather's  weight. 
A  beautiful  English  copy  of  Lane's  trans 
lation  of  the  Arabian  Nights,  with  fine  Eng 
lish  illustrations,  was  among  the  books 
that  had  been  put  up  for  my  little  girl. 
Grown  people  were  very  thankful  for  it  on 
the  ship  going  up  from  Panama,  and  then, 
and  later  in  our  camping-life,  wrhen  it  was 
read  aloud  to  her.  fragments  of  it  interwove 
themselves  with  our  daily  experience,  and 
it  was  the  child's  idea  that  when  we  reach 
ed  home  we  should  relate  to  her  grand 
father  our  voyage,  as  Sindbad  related  his ; 
we  too  had  had  our  dangers  by  sea,  and 
seen  strange  beasts  and  birds ;  we  had  found 
our  "  valley  of  diamonds,"  and  the  alterna 
tions  and  sudden  transitions  in  climates, 
languages,  people  of  every  varying  rank 
and  dress,  our  unusual  modes  of  travel — all 
seemed  nearer  to  fiction  than  to  the  formal 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   187 

routine  life  to  which  we  had  belonged,  and 
which  shortly  before  had  been  to  us  the 
only  way  of  living. 

During  the  Mexican  war,  a  Mexican  who 
had  brought  through  secret  despatches  at 
great  risk,  in  telling  my  father  of  the  diffi 
culties  he  encountered,  said  he  had  to  leave 
ordinary  travelled  routes,  and  make  his  way 
as  he  best  could  by  mule  or  horse,  or  at 
times  on  foot,  through  to  Vera  Cruz — as  he 
put  it  in  his  broken  English,  "on  horse 
back  or  mule-back,  and  many  times  on  foot- 
back.1'  We  could  include  this  last  mode 
of  travel  among  the  many  ways  in  which 
our  year's  journey  had  been  made.  Start 
ing  by  railway  from  Washington,  then  the 
ocean  steamer,  then  the  little  whale-boat 
on  the  Chagres,  then  the  mules  of  the  land 
crossing,  with  again  a  steamship,  followed 
by  such  experiments  in  carriage-horses  that 
driving  became  a  novelty,  always  walking 
in  hard,  troublesome  places,  and  then  with 
my  ship's  hammock  as  a  palanquin ;  on  the 
return  across  the  Isthmus,  together  with  the 
varied  peoples  we  had  seen,  ranging  from 
the  highest  to  the  lowest  in  intelligence 


188   A  TEAR  OP  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

and  cultivation,  differing  languages,  color, 
and  any  number  of  new  and  startling  phases. 
Of  social  observances  and  want  of  observ 
ances  we  had  a  great  deal  to  tell — talks 
that  were  never  to  end,  for  we  were  not  to 
go  back  to  California  ;  that  was  settled. 
The  risks  to  health  were  too  certain  and 
too  great ;  the  trial  of  separation  unneces 
sary,  now  that  Mr.  Fremont's  place  as  Sena 
tor  would  keep  him  in  Washington  through 
the  winters. 

Having  just  gone  through  the  experi 
ence  that  all  our  "best  laid  plans  had  gone 
agley,"  and  that  it  was  of  no  use  for  man  to 
propose  when  the  whole  chapter  of  acci 
dents  lay  open  to  dispose  of  you  otherwise,  I 
would  lie  contentedly  making  plans  for  the 
long  peaceful  time  ahead  of  me  in  Washing 
ton.  This  was  early  in  March.  In  October 
of  that  year  I  was  again  at  sea,  had  again  a 
touch  of  fever  at  the  Isthmus  in  crossing, 
and  it  was  three  years  before  I  again  saw 
any  of  my  home  people.  But  it  is  only  the 
Immortals  who  read  the  Book  of  Destiny. 
Fortunately  for  us,  we  live  our  lives  only  as 
we  see  the  days. 


A  YEAR  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL.   189 

We  were  a  sorry  -  looking  lot  when  we 
landed ;  even  my  little  girl  had  had  some 
of  the  fever  of  the  Isthmus.  Her  splendid 
hair  had  been  cut  close,  and  its  loss,  with  a 
silk  handkerchief  knotted  about  her  head 
to  take  its  place,  altered  her  almost  beyond 
my  own  recognition.  When  we  reached  our 
rooms  at  the  Irving  House,  we  laughed  at 
our  own  appearance :  we  looked  as  though 
we  had  been  taken  off  a  wreck,  so  thin  and 
haggard  were  we,  and  in  such  odd  dress. 
Jenny  Lind  was  in  her  progress  through 
the  country  at  that  time,  and  we  had  the 
rooms  that  had  been  beautifully  fitted  up  for 
her  at  the  Irving  House,  then  a  fashionable 
up-town  hotel  opposite  Stewart's  Chambers 
Street  warehouse.  How  good  it  was  to  get 
to  regular  things  again  !— the  warm,  carpet 
ed  rooms,  the  large  bath,  the  white  roses  and 
my  dear  violets,  with  which  Mr.  Howland 
never  failed  to  welcome  me  to  New  York. 

Of  all  my  carefully  prepared  outfit,  fire 
and  the  accidents  of  travel  had  left  me  only 
this  ridiculous  toilet  which  I  saw  reflect 
ed  in  the  long  mirrors  on  every  side — my 
dark  blue  cloth  riding-habit,  cut  short,  and 


190   A  YEAH  OF  AMERICAN  TRAVEL. 

hanging  as  straight  and  shapeless  about 
my  ankles  as  the  clothes  on  the  women  in 
a  Noah's  ark  ;  black-satin  slippers  ;  a  Leg 
horn  flat,  tied  down  with  a  China  crape 
scarf;  doubled  and  folded  about  me,  the 
faded  Scotch  plaid  which  had  served  as  a 
carpet  in  camp  and  an  awning  on  the  river 
Chagres.  Just  opposite,  at  the  door  of  Stew 
art's,  we  saw  a  match-girl  dressed  very  much 
in  this  way,  except  that  her  shoes  were  bet 
ter  for  the  weather. 

We  took  two  days  of  needed  rest  and 
refitting.  There  were  not  the  resources  in 
New  York  then  that  we  have  now,  but  for 
ty-eight  hours  restored  us,  and  sent  us  on 
our  way  equipped  like  other  people. 

As  in  the  old  ballads,  I 

"  Had  been  gone  but  a  year  and  a  day," 
when  I  was  again  back  in  my  father's  house. 


THE   END. 


GEORGE  ELIOT'S  NOVELS, 

LIBRARY  EDITION. 
ADA  M  EEDE.    Illustrated.    12mo,  Cloth,  $1  50. 
DANIEL  DERONDA.    2  vols.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $3  00. 

FELIX  HOLT,  THE  RADICAL.  Illustrated.  12mo, 
Cloth,  $1  50. 

MIDDLEMA  R  CIL    2  vols.  ,  12mo,  Cloth  ,  $3  00. 
ROMOLA.    Illustrated.    12mo,  Cloth,  $1  50. 

SCESES  OF  CLERICAL  LIFE,  and  SILAS  MAR- 
NER,  The  Weaver  of  Raveloe.  Illustrated.  12mo, 
Cloth,  $1  50. 

THE  MILL  ON  THE  FLOSS.  Illustrated.  12mo, 
Cloth,  $1  50. 


&  BnoTiiEiis  also  publish  Cheaper  Editions  of 
GEOKGK  ELIOT'S  NOVELS,  as  follows: 
DANIEL  DERONDA.    8vo,  Paper,  50  cents.—  FELIX 
HOLT.    Svo,  Paper,  50  cents.—  THE  MILL  ON  THE 
FLOSS.     Svo,  Paper,  50  cents.—  MIDDLEMARCH. 
Svo,  Paper,  75  cts.  ;  Cloth,  $1  25.  —  ROMOLA.     Svo, 
Paper,  50  cents.  —  SCENES  OF  CLERICAL  LIFE. 
Svo,  Paper,  50  cents.  —  SILAS   MARNER.     12m  o, 
Cloth,  75  cents.       _ 

Published  by  HAEPEK  &  BROTHERS,  N.Y. 

ther  of  the  above  books  sent  by  mail,  postage  prepaid,  to  any  part 
<tfthe  United  States  or  Canada,  on  receipt  c-f  the  price. 


BY  VIRGINIA  W.  JOHNSON. 


A  Sack  of  Gold. 

A  Novel.     8vo,  Paper,  35  cents. 

A" novel  which  places  the  author  among  the  fore 
most  writers  of  the  day. — Evening  Post,  N.  Y. 

Joseph  the  Jew. 

The  Story  of  an  Old  House.     Svo,  Paper, 
40  cents. 

It  is  well  written,  and  abounds  in  startling  situa 
tions,  hair -breadth  escapes,  counterplots,  and  femi 
nine  fidelity. — Albany  Evening  Journal. 

Miss  Naney*a  Pilgrimage. 

A  Story  of  Travel.     Svo,  Paper,  40  cents. 

The  Caldenvood  Secret. 

A  Novel.     Svo,  Paper,  40  cents. 

Will  advance  the  reputation  of  the  author.— Satur 
day  Evening  Gazette,  Boston. 

The  Catsfcill  Fairies. 

Illustrated  by  ALFRED  FREDERICKS.  Square 
Svo,  Illuminated  Cloth,  Gilt  Edges,  $3  00. 
Miss  Johnson  tells  a  fairy  story  to  perfection.— 

Christian  Intelligencer,  N.  Y. 


Published  by  HAKPER  &  BROTHERS,  New  York. 

ARPER  &  BROTHERS  will  send  either  of  the  above  works  by  mail, 
postage  prepaid,  to  any  part  of  the  United  Stalet  or  Canada,  on 
receipt  of  the  pric«. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  5O  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


•w,   "'"'"«3 


n 


MJL23824 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


